SEREMBAN: Two Chinese nationals have been fined RM50,000 each in default of 10 months’ jail after they pleaded guilty in the Sessions Court here to a charge of using non-certified communication equipment.
Huang Xiaomin, 40, and Zhang Cheng, 21, did not contest the charge of using non-approved communication equipment as required under the Communications and Multimedia Regulations (Technical Standards) 2000 before judge Meor Sulaiman Ahmad Termizi.
Huang was charged with using 41 sim box units, which did not carry a brand name, at a house in Taman Bukit Kepayang, near here, around 2.30pm on Jan 3.
Zhang was charged with having another 34 sim box units and one Tenda-brand network switch set at the same place and time.
They were charged under Regulation 16(1)(b) of the Communications and Multimedia (Technical Standards) Regulations 2000, read together with Regulation 16(3) of the same regulations, which can be punished under Regulation 37 of the same law.
Offenders can be fined up to RM300,000, jailed up to three years or both, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Syamimi Farhana Muhammad A. Aziz told the court that using such unauthorised equipment was a serious offence.
“The duo are foreigners who ran a lucrative business by providing fake SIM card registration and their customers were not only locals but foreigners as well.
“They made quick profits using equipment that had not been approved by Sirim Bhd,” she said, adding that the court also had to take into account that a police raiding team had seized 75 sim box units from the duo.
In mitigation, Huang said he had to provide for his wife, two children and aged parents back in China.
He also claimed to be the family’s breadwinner with an average income.
Zhang said he had just started working and that he had to provide for his parents and a sister who was still studying.
The duo was unrepresented.
According to the facts of the case, they were part of a group that supplied prepaid cards to customers and illegally registered them on social media.
It is believed that the buyers would use these cards to scam people.
Also seized from the house were 18 laptops, six mobile phones and 6,091 SIM cards.
