40 false E-kads detected by Malaysia’s Immigration Department

Bernama has reported that the Immigration Department in Malaysia has found attempts to create false Enforcement Card (E-kad). The cards have been distributed to illegal migrant workers who are required to register to obtain these identification cards.

Director-general of immigration, Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said that the department had detected 40 of these false E-kads since the registration exercise began on 15 February. He said: “We have acted against the so-called agents who attempted to issue the false E-kads. We will act against anyone at all trying to issue the false cards.”

“We have also detained a Bangladeshi national who had eight false E-kads in his possession,” he said to reporters after joining an operation to flush out illegal immigrants in Kota Kemuning on 5 July.

Mustafar said the E-kad issued by the department uses a biometric system whereby information on the employer and migrant worker were inserted into the card and it was difficult to falsify.

“The design of the false E-kad may be similar but the quick response code (QR code) is different. We can differentiate the card from the fingerprints of the employer and worker,” he said.

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Mustafar said 156 illegal migrant workers and two employers, all aged between 20 and 45, were arrested in Seri Kembangan and Kota Kemuning during the operations which began at 11pm on 4 July and ended at 3am on 5 July. The workers were from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Indonesia and China, he added.

“The immigration authorities are strict in safeguarding national sovereignty. The primary factor for any failure of the E-kad system is the stubborn attitude of employers in not registering their illegal migrant workers,” he commented.

Mustafar said the arrested illegal migrant workers would be deported to their countries of origin. 

“They will be kept at the respective state immigration detention depots prior to deportation,” he concluded.

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