AMPANG JAYA: It all started when a linguistic student from Ghana forged a passport.

But when word of his skills got around, he was soon making up to 10 fake passports a month, charging about RM1,000 for each.

This came to an end for the 26-year-old when he was detained by Ampang Jaya police's commercial crime department last Thursday.

Ampang police chief, Asst Comm Amiruddin Jamaluddin, said they were alerted by the public.

"Initial investigations revealed the suspect was able to forge the stamping seals from various countries as well as fake the social visit pass stamp," he said, adding that the suspect was charging US$350 (RM1,050) per fake passport.

Police conducted surveillance for a week before making a move on the suspect at his rented apartment at Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, at 6.30pm.

“Based on the nine fake passports seized, the suspect's clients were African nationals,” said Amiruddin, adding that eight passports were for Ghana citizens and one for a Lesotho national.

Also seized was an Immigration rubber stamp and a government seal.

Amiruddin said this was the first time Ampang Jaya police had busted a syndicate involved in forging African passports.

“Before this, we only came across fake Indonesian and Bangladeshi passports.”

A source said the suspect lived in an area where many African students resided and the college he attended was in Jalan Ipoh.

“There was a ready market for his passport forgery business and he was making up to US$3,500 (RM10,500) a month,” said the source.

"We believe the suspect has been doing this for the past three months and obtained the Immigration rubber stamp from an accomplice in Ghana. We also believe the suspect's own passport is a fake and have sent it to the Ghana High Commission to confirm its authencity."