{"id":152333,"date":"2025-10-01T15:59:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=152333"},"modified":"2025-10-01T15:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:59:55","slug":"immigration-thwarts-sri-lankan-syndicates-attempt-to-obtain-malaysian-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/10\/01\/immigration-thwarts-sri-lankan-syndicates-attempt-to-obtain-malaysian-passport\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration thwarts Sri Lankan syndicate\u2019s attempt to obtain Malaysian passport"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The Sun<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>KUALA LUMPUR<\/strong>: A Sri Lankan syndicate\u2019s attempt to fraudulently obtain a Malaysian passport using a child\u2019s identity was thwarted by the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incident occurred at the UTC Pudu Immigration Office this morning when a Sri Lankan man arrived with a local woman claiming to be his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were applying for a first-time child passport under the 10-year-old category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kuala Lumpur Immigration director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said suspicion arose when officers noticed the man\u2019s physical appearance appeared much older than the age on the submitted birth certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was also unable to follow simple instructions in basic Malay, including when asked to undergo biometric verification, he said in a statement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further investigations revealed the local woman was acting under the syndicate\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The syndicate offered a \u2018shortcut\u2019 for Sri Lankans to obtain Malaysian passports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their modus operandi involved using the birth certificate of the local woman\u2019s biological child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This enabled the Sri Lankan national to apply for a Malaysian passport by posing as her son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both individuals were detained for further investigation under the Passport Act 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several documents and mobile phones believed to have been used by the syndicate were also seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investigations are underway to trace the syndicate network involved in attempts to unlawfully obtain international travel documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Impersonating a Malaysian citizen to obtain a passport is a systematic fraud that threatens national security, Wan Mohammed Saupee added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citizens whose documents are misused face the risk of identity theft, legal complications, and false criminal records.\u201d \u2013 Bernama<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The Sun KUALA LUMPUR: A Sri Lankan syndicate\u2019s attempt to fraudulently obtain a Malaysian passport using a child\u2019s identity was thwarted by the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department. The incident occurred at the UTC Pudu Immigration Office this morning when a Sri Lankan man arrived with a local woman claiming to be his mother. They [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152334,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152333\/revisions\/152334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}