The Immigration Department has arrested 21 Bangladeshis including three owners of a syndicate for bringing laborers to Malaysia in the guise of cricketers.

Malaysian immigration department arrested them on Thursday. The country's Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaban gave this information in a statement on Sunday.

They were arrested in a special operation in Taman Maluri area near Cheras, Kuala Lumpur at around 10:30 am on Thursday based on intelligence information conducted for about two weeks. The country's news media The Sun Daily reported this information about the country's immigration department.

The director general of the immigration department said in a statement that the syndicate adopted various tactics to sneak into Malaysia dressed as cricketers and allocated hotels in the capital for them. At the same time the syndicate also booked tickets to return to Bangladesh to show the authorities.

18 copies of Bangladeshi passports, 990 ringgit cash notes and invitations to participate in sports competitions were seized during special raids.

The syndicate is believed to have been charging two to five thousand ringgit for each Bangladeshi worker to enter Malaysia for the past four months.