SINGAPORE: A 55-year-old woman who sold a rifle
firing pin at her military supply shop has been sentenced to six
weeks' jail.
Loh Boon Cheng, who owns Lay Hwa Store on the second floor of the
Golden Mile Food Centre at Beach Road, sold the firing pin to a
media intern on 5 March.
This was not the first time that the shop, located in what's
commonly known as the Army Market, was caught selling weapon
components.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Ashraf Hassan told the court on
Thursday that Loh's husband was convicted in 2006 of selling items
including 37 rifle magazines.
Leong Ho Pan, 61, was jailed six weeks while Loh was given a stern
warning. The warning did not deter Loh from committing the latest
offence.
In the latest incident, the 24-year-old intern went to the shop at
around 3pm and bought the M16 firing pin for S$70.
One of his colleagues then lodged a police report about the
incident a week later.
A team of police officers and personnel from the Singapore Armed
Forces Special Investigation Branch raided Loh's shop on 18
March.
They seized another firing pin from the premises.
In mitigation, Loh's lawyer, Chong Eng Chong asked the judge to
give his client a short jail sentence of up to two weeks.
He highlighted that Loh had bought the two firing pins from an army
boy many years ago.
She then kept the pins in a box and had forgotten all about them
until the intern went to her shop asking to buy one of them.
Mr Chong added that his client has breast cancer. She had gone
through chemotherapy and has suffered no relapses since then.
However, in handling out the sentence, District Judge Low Wee Ping
said that all underground illegal trade of items such as weapon
components and explosives must be deterred.
He stressed that there is no room in Singapore for such
activities.
For selling the firing pin, Loh could have been jailed up to three
years and fined
S$10,000.
And for being in possession of the component without a licence, she
could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to
S$5,000.
6
weeks...
