Man jailed for smuggling birds

This article is more than 12 months old

Apr 09, 2015 06:00 am

A man has been jailed and another fined for attempting to smuggle animals into Singapore.

Singaporean Herman Rahmat, 38, was sentenced to three months' jail yesterday for importing 12 birds into Singapore from Vietnam without the relevant licence last November.

He was also sentenced to three months' jail for subjecting the birds to unnecessary suffering or pain. Both sentences will run concurrently.

The birds were found individually concealed in customised PVC tubes. Food and water were not provided to them. Eight of the birds subsequently died.

In the second case, another 38-year-old Singaporean, who was not named, was issued a composition fine of $5,000 yesterday for importing a bearded dragon and an iguana into Singapore from Malaysia.

They were discovered at the Woodlands Checkpoint in the spare tyre compartment of a Singapore-registered vehicle on March 25 this year.