KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 – Malaysian immigration officers foiled an attempt by a Sri Lankan syndicate to fraudulently obtain a Malaysian passport using the identity of a child, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The incident occurred around 10:15 a.m. at the UTC Pudu Immigration Office, when a Sri Lankan man, accompanied by a local woman posing as his mother, applied for a first-time child passport under the 10-year-old category.
Kuala Lumpur Immigration director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said officers grew suspicious after noticing the applicant’s physical appearance was far older than the age stated on the submitted birth certificate.
“He was also unable to follow simple instructions in basic Malay, including during biometric verification,” Saupee said in a statement.
Further investigation revealed that the woman, acting under syndicate instructions, had used her biological child’s birth certificate to pass off the Sri Lankan man as her son.
Both suspects were detained under the Passport Act 1966, and authorities seized several documents and mobile phones believed to have been used in the scheme.
Immigration officials said the syndicate offered “shortcuts” for Sri Lankan nationals to unlawfully secure Malaysian passports, posing a threat to national security and raising risks of identity theft, false criminal records, and legal complications for victims.
Investigations are underway to trace the wider network behind the operation.