SINGAPORE: A Malaysian man who tried to smuggle two men into Malaysia by speedboat mistook a land mass for Pasir Puteh, Malaysia, when it was in fact, Singapore.
When he was pursued by the Police Coast Guard (PCG) for entering Singapore’s waters, Afendy Awang tried to flee by steering the vessel in a zig-zag manner across the sea.
The pursuit on April 25 at around 5.30am lasted about 17 minutes before his speedboat capsized from taking in too much water.
Afendy, 42, and the two Indonesians he sought to smuggle were found by the PCG in the sea without life jackets. They were arrested.
He was on July 12 sentenced to 22 weeks’ jail and three strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to two charges under the Immigration Act and a third charge of navigating his speedboat in a manner so rash as to endanger human life.
Another two charges under the Act were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
On April 23, Afendy was fishing at sea off Pasir Puteh when he met his Indonesian friend “Ari” and they went to Batam to spend time together.
At about 4am on April 25, as Afendy was preparing to return to Malaysia, Ari offered him 3 million rupiah (US$186) to smuggle two Indonesians in their 30s into Malaysia.
Afendy agreed. He steered the vessel in the direction shown by Ari, saw a land mass and thought it was Pasir Puteh. But when he realised his mistake, it was too late. He had entered Singapore.
A PCG officer spotted Afendy’s speedboat in Singapore’s waters and a patrol craft was dispatched to investigate it.
The three men were not injured when caught by the PCG.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Intan Suhaily Abu Bakar said that while the harm caused in this case is low, Afendy’s culpability is high.
She said the PCG had turned on its sirens and blinkers to signal for the accused to stop, but he ignored this and chose to flee.
The DPP added that the PCG craft had to manoeuvre in a zig-zag manner to pursue the accused and the chase ended only when the speedboat capsized.
DPP Intan said: “The accused not only placed his life at risk, he also placed the lives of two individuals at risk of being injured or drowning. There were other large vessels in the vicinity with people on board the vessels. Therefore, there is a higher potential of harm caused if the chase had resulted in a collision.”
Afendy, who was unrepresented in court, pleaded for leniency in mitigation, saying he has a family to support.
The two Indonesians he sought to smuggle into Malaysia, known in court documents as Muhli, 37, and Sanapiah, 32, had been dealt with in court earlier and were each sentenced to six weeks’ jail and three strokes of the cane.
For entering Singapore without a valid pass, an offender can be jailed for up to six months and caned at least three strokes for each offence. – The Straits Times/ANN
