They were believed to have set fire and splashed paint on the houses of victims to intimidate those unable to repay their loans.

Johor police chief Kamarul Zaman Mamat said intelligence and public information led to the arrest of nine men and a woman, as well as an Indonesian man.

The suspects, aged between 19 and 46, were alleged to be from two syndicates.

Kamarul said results of the investigation found that syndicate members received RM450 to RM800 in wages.

Some of these members were also found to have borrowed money from these syndicates and were working for the syndicates to pay off their debts.

“We found that there were individuals who were trapped (in service to the syndicates) because they were unable to repay their loans,” he said.

“We want such syndicates to know that we take cases like these seriously. We will eradicate such activities.”

Kamarul said police had solved 10 cases in Johor where houses were set on fire or had paint splashed on them. Three other cases in Seremban were also linked to these two syndicates.

Kamarul said the two syndicates had targeted Malaysian workers in Singapore by advertising loan offers on Facebook.

All the 11 suspects have been remanded for a week.