Man in Kuching fined for allowing illegal immigrants to occupy van, unlawful passport possession

KUCHING (Dec 13): A 44-year-old man was fined a total of RM54,000 in default 11 months in jail by the Sessions Court here today for allowing five illegal immigrants in a van and unlawfully possessing a passport belonging to an Indonesian man in 2021.

Judge Iris Awen Jon meted out the sentence against Hii How Hing after he was found guilty for the two charges.

For the first charge, Hii was fined RM50,000 in default six months in jail under Section 55(1) of the Immigration Act 1969/63 and punishable under Section 55E(2) of the same Act for allowing five illegal immigrants to occupy a van that was driven by him.

The section provides for a minimum fine of RM5,000 and a maximum of RM30,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months or both for each illegal immigrant found in the premises or area involved.

For the second charge, Hii was fined RM4,000 in default four weeks of imprisonment under Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966, and punishable under Section 12(1) of the same Act for unlawfully possessing a passport belonging to an Indonesian man.

The Section carries a jail term for up to five years or a fine not exceeding RM10,000, or both, upon conviction.

Hii committed the offences at a car park area in front of a budget hotel in King Centre here at around 7.53am on Aug 27, 2021.

According to the facts of the case, a team of raiding officers from the Immigration Department of Sarawak were conducting Ops Serkap at the said car park area and detained a suspicious van and its driver upon seeing the vehicle full of passengers.

Upon inspection, the team found passengers were believed to be of Indonesian nationalities, and all of them were then detained for further checking and inspection.

After further checking, some of the Indonesian passengers were released due to them having valid documents, while five others were arrested for not having any valid documents.

Further inspection in the van found one Indonesian passport under the name Bandang which was hidden under the driver seat.

The case was prosecuted by DPP Kong Siew Chuo while Hii was represented by counsels Chan Khoon Moh and Claesmine Yeo.