KUCHING: Two Indonesian men who pleaded guilty to a charge of smuggling gas cylinders to their own country were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in a Magistrates’ Court here yesterday.
Muhamad Sechudin, 35 and Edwar, 26, both hailed from Bontas, Indonesia appeared before Magistrate Zulhairil Sulaiman who also fined them RM5,000 in default one month imprisonment each.
Both the accused, however, failed to settle the fine and they will be serving one extra month in jail.
The sentence, which takes effect from their remand order on June 22, was ordered to run concurrently.
Sechudin and Edwar admitted to have smuggled 143 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders, which weighed 14 kg each and valued at RM3,803.80, at about 10.30am on July 21 at the Tebedu CIQ.
The gas cylinder is a prohibited goods under Controls of Supplies Act 1961 (Act 122), and the two Indonesians were convicted under Section 135(1)(e) of the Customs Act 1967 and punishable under Section 135 (1)(e)(iii) of the same act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The section provides a fine not less than 10 times the value of the goods or RM5,000, whichever is the lesser amount, and not more than 20 times the value of the goods or RM100,000, whichever is the greater amount, or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, upon conviction.
In the same case, a local lorry driver, who admitted to have involved in the smuggling of subsidised cooking oil and sugar, was slapped with RM135,000 after he admitted to the charge in the same court.
Mohd Rahmee Abdullah, 42, admitted to two charges of smuggling 4,000 packs of subsidised sugar, each weighing one kilogramme and worth about RM10,000 in total, at about 10.30am on July 21 at the Tebedu CIQ.
He also pleaded guilty in the court for smuggling 816 1kg packs of cooking oil at the same date, place and time.
Both sugar and cooking are also subsidised and prohibited items under the Controls of Supplies Act 1961 (Act 122).
For the first charge he was fined RM110,000 in default 12 months imprisonment for smuggling sugar meanwhile for the second charge he was fined RM 25,000 in default five months imprisonment for smuggling cooking oil.
According to the facts of the case, on July 21 an operation was held by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with the smuggling of prohibited goods to neighbouring country by a syndicate.
An Indonesian lorry with registration number KB9977DR and one person were detained at the Tebedu CIQ for allegedly smuggling subsidised goods to Indonesia.
The suspect, identified as Rahmee, had used the lorry to transport 4,200kg of subsidised sugar across the border without making any declaration and undetected by the authorities.
Initial investigation revealed that Rahmee had bought the sugar and cooking oil and stored for a certain period before smuggling them across the border.
Last week, eight persons were arrested to help in MACC’s probe into subsidised goods smuggling here including a Custom Department officer stationed at the CIQ.
The outcome of the probe saw the three aforementioned accused admitted to the offence and were charged accordingly in court, two claimed trial and three were released unconditionally including the officer.KUCHING: Two Indonesian men who pleaded guilty to a charge of smuggling gas cylinders to their own country were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in a Magistrates’ Court here yesterday.
Muhamad Sechudin, 35 and Edwar, 26, both hailed from Bontas, Indonesia appeared before Magistrate Zulhairil Sulaiman who also fined them RM5,000 in default one month imprisonment each.
Both the accused, however, failed to settle the fine and they will be serving one extra month in jail.
The sentence, which takes effect from their remand order on June 22, was ordered to run concurrently.
Sechudin and Edwar admitted to have smuggled 143 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders, which weighed 14 kg each and valued at RM3,803.80, at about 10.30am on July 21 at the Tebedu CIQ.
The gas cylinder is a prohibited goods under Controls of Supplies Act 1961 (Act 122), and the two Indonesians were convicted under Section 135(1)(e) of the Customs Act 1967 and punishable under Section 135 (1)(e)(iii) of the same act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The Section provides a fine not less than 10 times the value of the goods or RM5,000, whichever is the lesser amount, and not more than 20 times the value of the goods or RM100,000, whichever is the greater amount, or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, upon conviction.
In the same case, a local lorry driver, who admitted to have involved in the smuggling of subsidised cooking oil and sugar, was slapped with RM135,000 after he admitted to the charge in the same court.
Mohd Rahmee Abdullah, 42, admitted to two charges of smuggling 4,000 packs of subsidised sugar, each weighing one kilogramme and worth about RM10,000 in total, at about 10.30am on July 21 at the Tebedu CIQ.
He also pleaded guilty in the court for smuggling 816 1kg packs of cooking oil at the same date, place and time.
Both sugar and cooking are also subsidised and prohibited items under the Controls of Supplies Act 1961 (Act 122).
For the first charge he was fined RM110,000 in default 12 months imprisonment for smuggling sugar meanwhile for the second charge he was fined RM 25,000 in default five months imprisonment for smuggling cooking oil.
According to the facts of the case, on July 21 an operation was held by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with the smuggling of prohibited goods to neighbouring country by a syndicate.
An Indonesian lorry with registration number KB9977DR and one person were detained at the Tebedu CIQ for allegedly smuggling subsidised goods to Indonesia.
The suspect, identified as Rahmee, had used the lorry to transport 4,200kg of subsidised sugar across the border without making any declaration and undetected by the authorities.