Five Vietnamese illegals jailed

KOTA KINABALU: Five Vietnamese fishermen were each jailed for eight months for entering Sabah illegally.

Sessions Court judge Azreena Aziz imposed the sentence on Mai Van Nguyen, 41, Vo Van Phuong, 36, Nguyen Van Tan, 31, and Tran Van Thang and Trang Van Ho, both aged 27, after they pleaded guilty to separate charges yesterday.

They were arrested in a boat in the Malaysian waters near Pulau Mengalum at 1.30 pm on November 11, 2019 when they failed to provide valid travel documents to the authority during a check.

For the offence, they were convicted under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963, which provides for a fine of up to RM10,000 or a jail term of up to five years and whipping, upon conviction.

Earlier, the men allowed counsel Dato’ Sri Rakhbir Singh’s application of discharging himself from representing the men, and thus they were un represented.

In mitigation, through a Vietnamese translator, the men pleaded for a lenient sentence and claimed that they had been detained for about seven months.

They also wished to return to their hometown as soon as possible since they have families to support.

Apart from that, they also requested for no whipping to be imposed on them.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Wan Muhammad Fitri Wan Azizan from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency urged for a deterrent sentence and taking into account the sovereignty of the Malaysian waters and the rampancy of the case.

The court ordered the accused persons to be referred to the Immigration Department for their biometrics data to be recorded before deportation.