3 men who helped smuggle overstayer out of S'pore via Woodlands Checkpoint jailed

Lee Min Kok
The Straits Times
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2017

Three men have received jail sentences for their roles in attempting to smuggle an immigration offender out of Singapore via Woodlands Checkpoint.

Malaysian Chee Tian Hao, 26, was the last of the trio to be convicted last Thursday (March 23), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a press release on Tuesday (March 28).

He was sentenced to two years' jail and three strokes of the cane.

Chee was arrested by ICA officers on Feb 14, 2016, during an illegal attempt to convey Bangladeshi overstayer Md Islam Haris Madbar out of Singapore in a Malaysia-registered car.

Islam, 32, was found crouching on the floor of the car's rear passenger seat.

After the arrest of Chee and Islam, ICA officers conducted further investigations and established that two other men were involved in the operation.

They were Malaysian Mohamed Haniffa Sawulmaid, 36, and Singaporean Jumali Yusof, 61.

Haniffa was sentenced to eight months' jail on Feb 28 this year, while Jumali received a jail sentence of two years and six weeks in lieu of caning on Nov 25 last year.

Islam was convicted on March 15 last year and sentenced to six months' jail and five strokes of the cane.

In its press release on Tuesday, ICA said that it takes a serious view of attempts to overstay, enter or depart Singapore illegally.

"Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's safety and security. The security checks are critical to our nation's security," it added.

"We will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands."

The Straits Times

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