[Rick Lee]

Those stolen passports were from countries whose citizens need visas to fly to the PRC. I guess they don't check real closely in most airports when looking to see if you have a visa for the country to which you're flying, as it's not their problem once you leave their country.

Last time I got a Chinese visa from a local travel agency, I know they did not mail my passport to the Chinese consulate in LA (they claim they do), but rather just stuck the decal visa in my passport and called me to come back and get it two days later. Those visas can't be too hard to forge and they'd just need to be good enough to pass a quick look by someone in KUL, the perps knowing they won't make it to the PRC, where they'd get a computer check.