[!!!maryann!!!]

PORT KLANG, Malaysia - A syndicate which makes fake passports and work permits was smashed by the Selangor Immigration Department with the arrest of six people, including a civil servant, in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

It is learnt members of the syndicate had been counterfeiting documents for the past three years.

Selangor Immigration Department director Amran Ahmad said the syndicate had been using a rented house in Kampung Pandan for its operations.

The existence of the syndicate came to light following the arrest of a 21-year-old Indonesian woman more than a week ago at the Pulau Ketam jetty here.

"The woman possessed a fake passport and work permit which was obtained by her employer from a man who claimed to know 'insiders' in the government department who could help speed up the process of getting these documents for RM6,500 (S$2,661)," he told reporters at the Immigration Department office here yesterday.

Immigration officers conducted a raid on the house in Kampung Pandan about 4am yesterday and arrested the government servant, a local man and five Indonesians including four women.

Amran said they were between 20 and 50 years old.

He said many employers were deceived by the suspects who tricked them by presenting the temporary work permits as genuine because they had used a receipt with an Immigration Department letterhead.