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Indian-origin Malaysian man jailed for smuggling puppy in laundry bag
The accused was initially asked to bring in puppies or kittens from Malaysia to Singapore with his own vehicle.
An Indian-origin Malaysian man accused of concealing a puppy in a laundry bag while smuggling it into Singapore from Malaysia, has been sentenced to eight weeks' jail and fined SGD2,500 ( ₹1,62,805).
According to a PTI report citing Channel News Asia, 43-year-old Mahentharan Ganesan pleaded guilty to three charges- one count of importing an animal without a licence and two counts of breaching his duty of care as an animal owner, with another charge taken into consideration for his sentencing.
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What is the case?
On October 20, 2023, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officers at Tuas checkpoint, at a bridge link to southern peninsular Malaysia, detected one live puppy concealed in a laundry bag and hidden in the spare tyre compartment of Ganesan’s vehicle during an inspection.
The court heard that the accused owned a transportation company in Malaysia. According to the report, Ganesan borrowed some money from an unknown person.
The man reportedly offered the accused a job to repay his debt by bringing animals into Singapore illegally from Malaysia.
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Ganesan refused the offer, then agreed due to financial circumstances
Ganesan was initially asked to bring in puppies or kittens from Malaysia to Singapore with his own vehicle. After initially refusing the offer to do so as it was illegal, the accused agreed to deliver the animals due to his bad financial circumstances.
The unknown person introduced Ganesan to another man whom he referred to as ‘Mr Dog’. ‘Mr Dog’ informed the accused of the job assignments and instructed him on the process, the report added.
Ganesan would then collect the animals from another party and deliver them to other recipients in Singapore. The animals would sometimes be in laundry bags or boxes and seemed to be sleepy, according to court documents.
The accused was paid SGD60 in cash for each trip from the recipient, regardless of the number of animals delivered, though he usually delivered between one and three animals per trip.
It is not clear how many assignments the accused had completed in Singapore.
The identities of ‘Mr Dog’ and the man Ganesan owed money to, as well as where the animals originated from, remain unknown, the PTI report added.
