Foreign ‘beggars’ jailed for overstaying
PEKAN NENAS: The six foreign men are all disabled and get around with crutches, some on wheelchairs.
They entered Malaysia posing as tourists on social visit passes and overstayed, moving around Johor Baru and earning a lucrative income by begging.
But their activities came to an end when the six, aged from 22 to 53, were arrested and sentenced to jail time and fines.
In a special Sessions Court at the Immigration Detention Centre here, judge Zahilah Mohammad Yusof sentenced five of them to between one and six months’ imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to overstaying.
One suspect, 48, possessed no documents and was fined RM3,000 in default two months’ imprisonment.
They were arrested at a house in Taman Century Garden at 12.30am on March 13.
The Immigration prosecutor was Norhasimah Othman.
At the same court, Zahilah also sentenced 43 Indonesian men and women for entering the country without a valid permit.
The accused comprised 34 men and nine women who were aged 20 to 53.
For entering the country illegally, they were each sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.
Those who entered without a permit received a further three months of imprisonment and one stroke of the cane.
They were all nabbed at a swamp in Desaru on March 17.