He was also fined for obtaining a forged travel document. -The Brunei Times/ANN
Fri, Jan 28, 2011
The Brunei Times
THE Intermediate Court yesterday sentenced Malaysian national Sherdali Mohd Ali, the first person convicted of human trafficking in Brunei, to serve four years and six months in prison after he was found guilty last week.
Judge Lim Siew Yen of the Intermediate Court also fined Sherdali $5,000 in default of 10 months imprisonment for obtaining a forged travel document, a Malaysian passport registered under Majeid Khalad from Afghanistan for the purpose of facilitating human trafficking.
Sherdali was also convicted of an offence under Section 12 (1) (a) of the Passport Act, Chapter 146, whereby he had in his possession a forged Malaysian passport bearing the name of Mohammad Yonas Khan Abdul Kahar in order him to enter and remain in Brunei at the Labu Immigration Control Post, Temburong on June 10, 2010.
He was sentenced by the court to a fine of $1,000 in default of two months imprisonment.
The court has ordered for the imprisonment sentence to run concurrently and Sherdali is expected to pay a total fine of $6,000 or failure to settle the fine may result in 11 months imprisonment.
The court further ordered that the monies which the defendant had on him to be forfeited to the Trafficking and Smuggling of Persons Fund.
The prosecution, consisting of Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Christopher Ng and DPP Karen Tan called 13 witnesses to prove its case.
During the trial last year, the Afghan national who appeared as a prosecution witness, told the court he was frustrated with the long wait for refugees in Malaysia to be placed in other countries that could accommodate them, such as countries in Europe and Australia.
He then sought the help of Sherdali to help him get to Australia, to which the defendant agreed and told the witness he would handle everything and only asked for the witness to pass him some passport photographs.
The witness then stated that he passed his passport photos to Sherdali. Shortly after, the defendant contacted the witness to tell him that the plan was in place, but they had to go to Brunei first. The witness flew from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu by plane before making the journey to Brunei by car.
Both Sherdali and the Afghan nation were apprehended at the Labu Immigration Control Post in Temburong by Immigration and National Registration Department officers. The witness also testified in court that upon reaching Australia, he would contact his brother in Afghanistan to wire US$10,000 to Sherdali.
The money was obtained after selling a house in Kabul. After being shown the forged passport, the witness admitted that the photo in the passport was the same one he had given to Sherdali and that his name was not Majeid Khalad.
The witness denied being a Malaysian citizen or permanent resident and claimed he only saw the forged Malaysian passport on the day he was apprehended as the Malaysian passport was kept by Sherdali.
The prosecution presented evidence containing the text messages found inside the mobile phones of both the witness and the defendant, detailing their arrangement.
SOURCE: The Brunei Times/Asia News Network
First person convicted in Brunei for human trafficking
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