A COUPLE who smuggled seven puppies into Singapore were each
fined $70,000 yesterday.
As Ang Soon Peng, 44, and his wife Soh Wan Ping, 42, could not pay
up, they will each serve default jail terms of seven months.
They each admitted to seven charges of importing the seven-week-old
puppies - three poodles and four Japanese spitzes - from Malaysia
without a licence. They were caught in a routine check at Woodlands
Checkpoint on March 9.
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority prosecuting officer Yap Teck
Chuan told the court that the couple hid the puppies under
newspapers on the floorboard of the front passenger seat.
They had gone across the Causeway on March 9 to collect the
poodle puppies from their contact, paying RM900 (S$370) for each.
They also bought the spitzes for RM800 each.
Pressing for a deterrent sentence, Mr Yap told District Judge
Carrie Chan that animals cannot be freely imported because
quarantine rules are in force; these rules prevent rabies from
being re-introduced into Singapore, which has been rabies-free
since 1953.
The couple could have been jailed for up to a year on each
charge.
(Taken from The Straits Times, Thursday, June 9 2011, Page B11)