Seven individuals plead guilty, fined for owning illegally imported cigarettes

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Seven people including three women, pleaded guilty to owning a total of 38,108 sticks of illegally imported cigarettes at the Magistrates' Court here today.

Suhaili Sulaiman, 38; Nurhidayah Sa'ad, 26, Soon Tek@ Low Soon Tek, 65, Chong Yn Lan, 70, Yeoh Poh San, 45, Low Boon Chua, 32 and Sanusi Abu Hassan, 50, pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them before Magistrate Jamiliah Ab Makap.

They were charged with committing the offence at their shops in the Central Seberang Perai district between December 2011 to April 2016.

The offence comes under the Customs Act 1967 where those convicted are liable for a maximum three-year prison sentence or a fine 20 times the value of the contraband involved or both.

Following their guilty plea, Jamiliah fined Suhaili RM5,800 for owning 4,600 sticks of contraband cigarettes valued at RM368 while Nurhidayah was fined RM5,000 for owning 4,000 sticks of contraband cigarettes valued at RM351.65.

Soon Tek and Chong were respectively fined RM7,500 and RM2,000 for owning 4,800 contraband cigarette sticks and 1,800 sticks respectively with the total valued at RM564.50.

Yeoh was fined RM10,000 for owning 22,400 sticks of contraband cigarettes worth RM794 while Boon Chua and Sanusi were each fined RM500 and RM400 for owning 340 and 168 sticks of contraband cigarettes respectively.

The Court also issued a warrant of arrest against one Tan Kee Hing, 65, who was absent and who was alleged to own 14,600 sticks of contraband cigarettes worth RM1,240.

All the cases were prosecuted by Royal Malaysian Customs prosecuting officer Siti Nurfiziatul Fazliani Mohd Zain and Mohd Safwan Fathy Yahaya.