Before he flew to Thailand on a fake Bangladeshi passport and then crossed into Malaysia, Mohammed Imran was one of the most influential Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. He headed an 18,000-strong camp and represented them on the big stage.
In late 2017, at the peak of a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, Imran paid traffickers $4,720 to be smuggled into Malaysia in search of a better life.
Malaysia has become home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, the second-highest number in the world, after Bangladesh, with most braving the Andaman Sea on rickety boats or paying human smugglers for fake travel documents.