MALACCA: A boatman and his three workers were each sentenced to 10 years jail by the Sessions Court, here on Thursday after they pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking nine Afghanistan, Pakistani and Indonesian nationals to Indonesia.
The four men are Sufian Abdul Rejab, 38, from Lombok; Amri Abdullah, 25, from Permatang Panjang; Nakzeri Ba harudin, 24, from Dumai and Ali Parginin, 16, from Pulau Rupat, all in Indonesia.The four were arrested on Oct 31, after their boat was stopped by the Police Marine Operations Force (MOF) and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in Malaysian waters, near Pulau Upeh at about 9.50pm.
They were attempting to smuggle nine foreigners, in cluding four Pakistanis and four Afghanistan nationals, including a one-and-a-half-year-old boy and an Indonesian illegal immigrant.
The Pakistani and Afghanistani nationals were to make their way to Australia from Indonesia.
Judge Ahmad Sazali Omar in sentencing ordered the jail term to start from the date of the arrest.
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Shahidani Abd Aziz @ Juned prosecuted.
Later, in the same Sessions Court, the Pakistani, Afghanistani and Indonesian nationals broke down and cried after they were sentenced to six months jail for attempting to leave the country illegally.
The eight people are Farhan Ali Ramzan Ali, 35; Ali Mukhtar Ewas Ali, 41; Hussain Adib Muhammad Sarwar, 31; and his brother Hussain Amir Muhammad Sarwar, 27; all from Pakistan; Afghanistan nationals Rejab Sharifi, 29, his wife Sedighe Ahmadi, 27; and Ali Asfar Ahmadi, 33; and also Indonesian, Wardi Ahmad, 34.
There was no charge against the one-and-a-half-year-old boy of the Afghan couple.
All the foreign nationals pleaded guilty to the charge of attempting to leave the country illegally.
According to the charge, Rejab, Sedighe, Ali Asfar and Wardi did not have any valid travle documents while Farhan Ali, Ali Mukhtar, Hussain Adib and Hussain Amir had valid documents.
In appealing for a minimum sentence, the Afghan nationals said that they were forced to leave Afghanistan to escape from the Taliban. The sole Indonesian national said that he wanted to return home to attend his son's funeral.
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