MERSING: A Vietnamese woman was sentenced to a years’ jail by the magistrate’s court, here today, after she pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of passports which did not belong to her, earlier this month.
Duong Thi Thuy Trang, 34, entered the plea after the charge was read out to her in Vietnamese before magistrate Mazana Sinin.
The offence was committed at a house in Jalan Cemerlang 08, Tanjung Gemok, Rompin, Pahang on Feb 3 at 10.15am.
Duong was convicted under Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act 1966.
In the same court 18 Vietnamese men pleaded guilty to attempting to leave Malaysia in a local fishing boat via an illegal route about 1.8 nautical miles west of Tanjung Kempit in the waters off Endau, at 2.25am on Jan 30.
The accused were Thach Dung, 38; Le Minh Dien, 27; Huynh Huu Nghi, 29; Huynh Van Tinh, 32; Tran Van Co, 26; Le Thah Kha, 19; Du Than Luan, 41; Huynh Huu Phuol, 36; Tran Thanh Tu, 29; Truong Van Cu Mau, 50; Duong Van Quy, 29; Duong Minh Dang, 24; Duong Trong Hien, 26; Nguyen Chi Khang, 25; Nguyen Van Chien, 28; Luong Van Duc, 31; Duong Hoang Vu, 28; and Nguyen Van Xung, 44.
Five of them, Minh Dang, Trong Hien, Van Duc, Hoang Vu and Van Xung were also charged with staying in Malaysia without any valid pass, at the same place, time and date.
The charges were made under Section 5 (2) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) and Section 6 (1) (c) of the same Act.
Meanwhile another Vietnamese man, Tran Van Dung, 38, pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 26J of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 at the same place and date.
However, the court postponed its judgements to April 3 to allow the documents to be verified by the Immigration Department and to appoint a new interpreter. — Bernama
