Man fined for stealing cellphones

KOTA KINABALU: A man was fined RM5,000, in default, 16 months in jail by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday for stealing four Huawei P20 cellphones worth about RM11,876 while his three accomplices claimed trial to committing a similar offence.

Mohd Sharan Iqmal Muammar Ghadafi, 22, admitted before magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus, to stealing the branded gadgets at a cargo at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport here on May 5.

The accused was convicted under Section 379 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries a jail term of up to seven years or a fine, upon conviction.

Prosecuting officer Inspector Albert Basiri told the court that on the day of the incident, the complainant, who is a driver of a company, counted the boxes which just arrived from Kuala Lumpur.

The complainant then found out that one out of 46 boxes was unwrapped and when the complainant checked on the unwrapped box, the said four cellphones were missing.

A police report was lodged and four men (later known as the accused persons) were arrested and an investigation revealed that the IMEI numbers of the lost cellphones matched the cellphones found on the accused.

The three co-accused, namely Haimie Jamsani, 32, Mohd Sobree Matdin, 28, and Mohd Shafiee Buding, 27, will have their case mentioned again on August 28 after they had maintained their plea of not guilty when their case came up for pre-trial case management yesterday.

The trio are currently released on court bail, pending disposal of the case.

Meanwhile, in the same court, two men claimed trial to a joint charge of disposing of two stolen IPhones.

Mohd Aqmarl Ahmad, 23, and Mohd Fauzi Aziz, 24, were alleged to have disposed of the cellphones at the same place at 8am on May 21.

The court set August 29 for the trial of both the accused who are currently released on court bail.

Mohd Aqmarl was represented by counsel Farazwin Haxdy.