KUANTAN: Twenty-two Filipinos were sentenced to four months’ jail each after they pleaded guilty in three Magistrate’s Courts here today to either using forged identity cards or those belonging to somebody else.
The Filipinos, consisting of 14 men and eight women, age between 15 and 69, were ordered to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest. All of them were arrested last Sept 30.
Fourteen of the Filipinos pleaded guilty to a charge of using forged identity cards and the remaining with using an identity card belonging to somebody else.
Ten of them were sentenced by Magistrate Noor Zaihan Mohamad Ali, another 10 by Magistrate Noor Aisah Mohamed and two others were brought to the Special Traffic Magistrate’s Court and were sentenced by Magistrate Tuan Ruzuaini Tuan Lah.
Noor Aisah, when handing down the sentenced told the 10 accused to not repeat the offence.
“If you want to work here, to earn a living in Malaysia, enter the country legally,” she added.
According to the facts of the case, the Filipinos were arrested in an integrated operation by the Pahang Immigration Department and the Putrajaya National Registration Department in Balok last Sept 30.
All of them speak fluent Malay, with Sabah dialect, and claimed to be from the islands of Sulu and Zamboanga in the Philippines.
Prosecuting officers from the National Registration Department, Mohd Fazdlhy Abdul Razak, Mohd Ashgar Mohd Hussain and Ibrahim Abdul Latif prosecuted, while all the accused were unrepresented. – BERNAMA