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Man jailed for posing as ICA officer to steal cigarettes

On Wednesday (Jan 18), the plot’s mastermind, Jasmin Eyple, 33, was sentenced to five weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of impersonating a public servant. Another count of attempted theft was taken into consideration for sentencing.

On Wednesday (Jan 18), the plot’s mastermind, Jasmin Eyple, 33, was sentenced to five weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of impersonating a public servant. Another count of attempted theft was taken into consideration for sentencing.

His accomplices, aged between 21 and 33, face similar charges. Four of them — Muhammad Assri Zainun, 31; Muhammad Irwanna Saini, 30; Muhammad Sufian Radman, 33; Muhamad Zul Hijah Saidin, 21 — have had their cases fixed for pre-trial conference next month while Mohamed Syafiq Saidin, 26, has not been charged.

At about 10.30pm on Aug 18 last year, Jasmin and three others had just picked up Syafiq and Zul when Jasmin suggested going to the Sungei Kadut area to steal contraband cigarettes from illegal peddlers.

Jasmin devised a plan for the group to impersonate ICA officers. He told the group that if he shouted “ICA” while the peddlers were in the middle of their dealings, they would flee and leave the contraband cigarettes behind.

The group agreed to his plan and decided to split among themselves whatever cigarettes they would be able to lay their hands on.

At about 11.10pm that day, Assri drove them to a carpark near Block 2B on Woodlands Road before they walked towards a nearby fence where some peddlers were selling contraband cigarettes, the court was told.

Irwanna allegedly approached the peddlers and asked to buy four cartons of cigarettes before Jasmin pulled out his EZ-Link card and shouted, “ICA”.

The peddlers grabbed their cartons of contraband cigarettes, climbed over the fence and ran into the forested area behind. Three of them, including Jasmin, gave chase by climbing over the fence as well while the others ran along the fence to attempt to intercept the peddlers.

But unknown persons armed with metal poles and wooden planks came running out of the forested area instead and attacked some in the group. Some of them fled towards the heavy vehicle carpark at Stagmont Ring while Jasmin managed to escape in a taxi. It was not stated in court who the assailants were, or how the group was subsequently identified and arrested by the authorities.

Urging the court to impose a five-week jail term on Jasmin, Deputy Public Prosecutor Li Yihong said Jasmin was the instigator of this incident and had asked the rest of them to agree to it. In mitigation, Jasmin asked for a lighter sentence, saying he had to care for his aged parents.

For impersonating a public servant, he could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined.

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