A 32-year-old Somali national will spend a year in jail for trying to sneak out from the Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex to Singapore by hiding inside a bus.
Sessions Court judge Salawati Djambri fined Mustfa Salad Jama RM16,000 (S$5300) or in default 12 months’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to two separate charges.
As he was unable to raise the RM16,000, Mustfa will have to go to prison.
In mitigation during a special court case at the Pekan Nenas detention camp, he pleaded for a lighter sentence saying he had a family and wanted to return home.
Mustfa was arrested on Sept 1 by immigration officers onboard a bus heading to Singapore.
He was nabbed at the Johor CIQ with a passport, which was tampered with two pages torn out. This offence came under Section 12(1) (a) of the Passport Act.
His second charge under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act was about him overstaying in Malay-sia for two months and 12 days after his social visa expired on June 20.
He was not represented while Immigration prosecuting officer A. Vikneswaran prosecuted the case.
In another case, a Malaysia-registered prime mover was stopped at the Tuas checkpoint in Singapore for allegedly trying to smuggle about RM1mil worth of contraband cigarettes and tobacco.
The Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority in a statement said the 42-year-old Malaysian driver had declared the items as 662 boxes of electrolytic capacitors during early morning checks several days ago.
Singapore ICA officers found contraband cigarettes hidden among the consignment, and 4,050 cartons of cigarettes as well as 150 bundles of tobacco were seized.
The seized items and the suspect have been handed to the Customs Department for investigations.
