PUTRAJAYA, March 13 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today said 10 people have been arrested over birth forgery syndicate dismantled under a joint operation by the National Registration Department and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
He said the syndicate is believed to have links both domestically and internationally and may be involved in human trafficking, smuggling undocumented children into Malaysia to be sold to local families.
“A total of 10 Malaysian citizens including two women and eight men were arrested. Among them, four were suspected to be middlemen, including a legal practitioner believed to be the mastermind behind the operation. Six others were identified as the individuals who submitted the forged birth registrations.
“Cash amounting to RM54,000, believed to be proceeds from these illegal activities, was also seized,” he said in a press conference here today.
He said the syndicate produced forged documents purporting to be for private healthcare facilities that are then used to apply for birth certificates.
“Before issuing a birth certificate, NRD verifies several documents, including prenatal medical records, delivery details (hospital/clinic name, attending doctor), and whether the medical facility and doctor are legally registered. If everything appears legitimate, NRD processes the registration.
“However, in this case, the documents were not issued to the actual newborns but were instead sold on the black market to individuals who lacked identification documents and were not Malaysian citizens,” he explained.
Saifuddin said the case is being investigated under Section 36(1)(b) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, which carries penalties of up to RM20,000 in fines, three years’ imprisonment, or both upon conviction.
He said additional charges may also be developed from the ongoing investigation.
Investigators have discovered at least 80 birth certificates obtained using the falsified health records, he added.
The operation, named Ops Tumpang, was carried out across multiple locations including Putrajaya, Selangor and Perak.
Today’s disclosure also comes after the MACC’s own operations earlier this weeks, which resulted in the arrest of 16 people including one with a state honour carrying the title “Datuk Seri”, for falsifying birth documents.
