Op Tropicana: Syndicate members often make u-turn trips

PUTRAJAYA - Taking 'u-turn' trips to and fro to this country is the move used by a group believed to be part of an investment fraud syndicate led by a United Kingdom (UK) citizen.

Malaysian Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the so called move used by the syndicate was detected in November last year.

"These u-turn activities involve foreign women, but when the investigations were carried out on them (syndicate) they would make frequent trips to and from the country through social passes and stay within the maximum period," he said in the Ops Tropicana press conference at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters, here.

Also present at the press conference was MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

Dzaimee said the activities of the suspect were shared by Immigration officers who were stationed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA Terminal 1) to the officers in the Intelligence and Special Operations Division.

"After tracking their movements, we established a special team with MACC," he said.

He stated 30 individuals were arrested in the operations of whom 27 were foreign citizens.

"Out of the total arrested, seven were remanded under the MACC Act," he said.

Dzaimee said the remaining 23 individuals were remanded under the Immigration Act on several offences which include misusing social visit passes and not having travel documents.

"They are all banned from entering the country for the rest of their lives," he said.

The MACC in collaboration with Immigration, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Cyber Security Malaysia, Malaysian Companies Commission, Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the Inland Revenue Board on Tuesday uncovered the activities in a raid throughout the capital and Penang.

Those suspected of being scammers have obtained roughly AUD$60 million (RM200 million) through their victims since 2019.

The group was said to have bribed authorities to maintain the safety of its members and to facilitate syndicate operations in their call centre or ‘boiler rooms’ in the country.