by Elena Chong
A FISH farm operator was jailed a day and fined a total of
$13,000 on Wednesday for smuggling in birds and a ferret at the sea
off Lim Chu Kang last October.
Chan Keng Hee, 49, pleaded guilty to importing 84 live birds
mainly the mata puteh and the red whiskered bulbul and the domestic
ferret from Malaysia without a licence on Oct 15.
A Community Court heard that Police Coast Guard officers saw
Chan's fishing vessel alongside a Malaysian boat and two styrofoam
boxes being transferred from the Malaysian vessel to his vessel at
about 5.55am that day. Officers stopped Chan at the Lim Chu Kang
public jetty and found the animals and birds in the styrofoam
boxes.
Investigation showed that Chan was licensed to operate a fish
culture farm and had a fishing vessel to convey his fish to shore
and his daily needs from shore to his farm. On Oct 14 he received a
call from a Malaysian contact to help him ferry the animals and
birds from the international waters into Singapore.
He had paid RM5,000 (S$2,093) to the Malaysian boatman for the
animals and birds. He admitted that he had smuggled in an unknown
number of mata puteh birds in the same manner two months
earlier.
Another charge of importing a radiated tortoise was taken into
consideration. He could have been fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed
for up to 12 months on each charge.