Andy is escorted from the courtroom following sentencing.
KUCHING (July 27): The High Court here today sentenced an illegal immigrant to three years in prison for trafficking four illegal immigrants in March this year.
Judge Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab convicted farmer Andy Bohari Jon, 29, on his own guilty plea to a charge under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, which was read to him by a court interpreter.
The Section provides for a jail term of up to 15 years, or a fine, or both.
According to the facts of the case, Andy, who is from Kalimantan, trafficked four illegal immigrants on March 18 at around 5.20am by the roadside in Kampung Raso 1, Lundu.
It was reported in the media that Andy was transporting the illegal immigrants in a vehicle when he was stopped by General Operations Force (GOF) personnel.
Checks found none of them possessed valid travel documents and that they had entered the country via illegal entry points.
Prior to sentencing, Andy pleaded for leniency on the grounds that he has three young children to support, and requested the prison term take effect from the day of his arrest.
The judge agreed for the jail sentence to run from March 18.
Deputy public prosecutor Ruthra Raj prosecuted the case, while Andy was unrepresented by counsel.