Man gets jail, fine over scheme to smuggle 12 dogs, 1 cat into S'pore; 2 dogs died in lorry

SINGAPORE — Wanting to profit from the illegal importation of pets from Malaysia, 28-year-old Desmond Lee Soon Kiat enlisted the help of a delivery driver to transport dogs and cats from Johor Bahru to Singapore. 

But the driver was caught by officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) when they conducted a check on his lorry, in which animals were hidden. Two of the dogs had died during the journey.

Lee pleaded guilty on Thursday (Oct 20) to five charges, including illegally importing animals and keeping a pet without a licence. Eleven other charges were taken into consideration. 

He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of owning a place used for gambling. 

For his actions, Lee was sentenced to nine weeks' imprisonment and a S$10,000 fine. 

HOW HE WAS CAUGHT 

The court heard that Lee was running an unlicensed business involving the importation and sale of live animals. 

Court documents did not state when he started the business or how long he had been running it for. 

To transport the animals, Lee sought the help of 41-year-old Malaysian Muguntan Ganeson to act as a deliveryman. 

Lee would pay Muguntan S$200 for every live animal he successfully smuggled from Malaysia into Singapore. 

On May 30, Muguntan carried out a delivery job for Lee by hiding 12 dogs and one cat in his lorry.

He then attempted to smuggle them across the border. 

However, Muguntan was caught when ICA officers conducted a check on his vehicle at the Tuas Checkpoint. 

During the inspection, officers found the 12 dogs hidden in a makeshift bed behind the passenger seat and the cat in an external storage compartment on the driver’s side. 

The animals did not have any food or water. 

When ICA officers questioned him, Muguntan admitted to smuggling the animals, along with concrete he was supposed to deliver from Johor Bahru for Lee. 

The National Parks Board (NParks) then conducted a follow-up operation and arrested Lee on June 1. He admitted to ordering the live animals from a man living in Kuala Lumpur. 

Lee had paid him RM2,000 (S$602) to RM3,000 for each live animal and intended to resell them to customers in Singapore for about S$2,000 to S$2,800 each. 

On June 1, NParks officers also conducted a search on Lee’s house and discovered a male chihuahua dog Lee was keeping as a pet. 

He did not have a licence to keep the dog. 

'UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION'

NParks prosecutor Ron Goh said that of the 13 animals transported, two dogs died during the journey which took over two hours. 

He added that a veterinary report had accessed the condition as unsatisfactory for the animals and all 13 of them were being “cramped together”. 

However, Lee’s lawyer, Covenant Chambers’ Che Wei Chin said that his client did not have any knowledge on how the animals would be transported as he commissioned Muguntan to do it. 

“So the actual execution of transporting is not something my client had control over,” said Mr Che.

He added that there was no evidence that Lee requested to use a vehicle with those particular dimensions to transport the animals. 

Muguntan pleaded guilty on Aug 26 to four charges including illegally importing animals and failing to care for them. Twenty similar charges were taken into consideration. 

He was sentenced to 22 weeks' imprisonment. 

For illegally importing animals, Lee could have been fined up to S$10,000 or jailed for up to 12 months, or both.

All dogs belonging to owners must be licensed by the Animal and Veterinary Service, which is part of NParks. Anyone found guilty of keeping unlicensed dogs can be fined up to S$5,000.