Man gets two years’ jail for transporting illegals

ALOR SETAR: An odd-job worker has been sentenced to two years’ jail by the High Court here for transporting eight illegal migrants in Changlun.

Judicial Commissioner Abu Bakar Katar also ordered Abduellah Hasyaem Samsudin, 34, to forfeit his Proton Waja that was used to ferry the illegal migrants. He will serve the jail term at a correctional rehabilitation centre in Perlis effective Feb 8, the date of his arrest.

Abduellah had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 26(J) of the Anti-Trafficking In Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act.

He was accused of transporting the illegal Myanmar migrants, aged between two and 35, on Feb 8 in Kampung Sungai Buluh, Changlun.

According to the facts of the case, the migrants took a bus from Klang where they had been working and were planning to return to Myanmar.

When they arrived in Changlun, Abduellah was waiting by the roadside in his car.

They stopped at a house in Kampung Sungai Buluh before continuing their journey to Thailand but were ambushed by police.

National Legal Aid Foundation counsel Ali Munawar Razak, who represented Abduellah, said in mitigation that the court should impose a light sentence as Abduellah had a wife and four children aged between three and 12 to care for.

“That trip was the first that Abduellah agreed to take on and he was busted.

“He cooperated fully with police and this led to the arrest of a man named ‘Din Kapak’ who had asked him to send the migrants.

“He pleaded guilty to the offence in the early stage, thus saving the time and cost of court proceedings,” Ali Munawar said.

Deputy public prosecutor Zabidah Ahmad urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence as a lesson to the public.