The [Malaysian] Immigration Department believes that some Chinese nationals are using forged South Korean passports and Malaysia as a "transit-point" to get to Europe. Immigration Department Enforcement Director Datuk Ishak Mohamed said the dealings were done by agents who facilitated the Chinese nationals, most of whom came here on social visit passes issued by the government of China."They use South Korean passports as Chinese passports would make it difficult for them to gain entry into Europe," he said when met by Bernama here Tuesday. However, he believed the syndicate was operated by foreigners. He said the activities of the syndicate surfaced when the department detained 70 Chinese nationals during a recent operation.
"One incident involved 31 Chinese nationals who flew to Kuala Lumpur from Brunei. From KLIA they left for Istanbul. Immigration Officers there deported them after finding something amiss and later found out that they were using forged South Korean passports," he said.
Ishak also did not rule out the possibility that Chinese nationals were using forged Malaysian passports to enter European countries but reiterated that he had not encountered any such incident so far. Ishak was responding to a front-paged report in an English daily recently that some 50,000 Chinese nationals who had entered the country as tourists and overstayed this year had not checked out. However, he could not confirm a news report carried by an English daily today where it stated that more than 300 Chinese nationals, carrying tampered Malaysian travel documents, were doing time in several European Union countries for credit card fraud.