by Desmond Davidson The Malaysian Insider November 18, 2013
A National Registration Department (NRD) assistant officer was among dozens arrested by police in Miri as authorities smashed the state’s biggest syndicate behind the falsifying of MyKads and birth certificates.
The 57-year-old officer, attached to the NRD office in Putrajaya, is one of the key players in the syndicate, said Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman.
Mohammad said there could be more arrests as police investigation widens.
“We will be hunting members of the syndicate that have escaped arrests,” Mohammad told a press conference today.
Mohammad said police made the arrests on November 16 after a week of surveillance at a residential estate in Desa Pujut in the Kuala Baram district.
He said police found 34 people in the house at a residential estate in Desa Pujut in Kuala Baram – about 12km from Miri town – but detained 23 of them and seized two fake MyKads, 30 copies of “birth certificates”, 69 copies of photostated certificates, an “official receipt” and three Sabah “birth certificates”.
Police also seized RM3,100 in cash, four USB thumb-drives, three stamp-pads, 10 rubber stamps of various government departments in Sabah, a laptop and a desktop computer.
Of those arrested, most were from Sarawak, while the rest comprised two Bajaus from Sabah; six from Peninsular Malaysia, including the NRD officer; and seven men and three women from the Philippines.
The two Bajaus were arrested for being in possession of fake MyKads while the 10 Filipinos were held to verify the NRD-issued travel documents they held in their possession.
Mohammad said the NRD officer was on leave and he was allegedly overseeing the operation when he was busted.
“The arrest of the Sabahans and foreigners showed that the syndicate had spread its wing to Miri from Sabah.”
Mohammad also said police are now trying to find if there is a link between the break-in of the NRD office in Bakong, about 50km from Miri, last week and the busted syndicate.
In the break-in, Mohammad said 35 MyKads awaiting collection and other documents were stolen. – November 18, 2013.