Man who trespassed into Sembcorp Marine premises to fish fined $600

Jean Iau
The Straits Times
March 18, 2022

Two men who wanted to fish in Sembcorp Marine's premises, a restricted area in Tuas, saw an opening in the fence and crawled through it with their fishing equipment.

They spent the afternoon fishing by a lagoon, which is an area managed by Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), before they were caught crawling out of the same hole in the fence by police officers.

Neither of them caught any fish.

On Friday (March 18), one of the men, Ahmad Danial Mazlan, 28, was fined $600 for trespassing onto government premises. One other similar charge was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The other man, Muhammad Fikri Eshak, 27, was given a warning.

The court heard that on Aug 28 last year at about 2.15pm, the pair went to Tuas View Extension to fish in the restricted area managed by JTC.

They walked along the fence looking for an opening to access the restricted area near to the shoreline and saw a cut opening at about 2.35pm.

They entered the area through this opening with their fishing equipment and fished at the lagoon area.

They left at about 7.15pm and were eventually caught by the police, who were alerted by a member of the public.

State Prosecuting Officer Lim Yeow Leong told the court that Ahmad Danial knew the area was fenced up to prevent unauthorised entry and there was also a sign put up by JTC warning people not to enter the premises and that trespassers would be prosecuted.

For wilfully trespassing into government grounds, Ahmad Danial could have been fined up to $1,000.