BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: A 22-year-old Malaysian man, Maxlaurence George, was sentenced to five years imprisonment and three strokes of whipping, for possession of live ammunition without any licence issued to him by a licensing officer.
The sentence was delivered by Magistrate Syaffina Shahif on Tuesday (Oct 7), with the defendant having first been brought to court on Sept 20, with a holding charge being preferred and no plea recorded due to ongoing investigations at the time.
With the two-week adjournment given and bail denied, the defendant was remanded in Maraburong Prison for the time being, since the arrest was made on Sept 18.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Husna Abidin represented the prosecution and presented the facts of the case.
At the time, he was employed by a company as a lorry assistant, and during that day on Sept 18, he was involved in a routine inspection and search by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED) at the Labu Control Post in Temburong District.
During the search at about 9.51am, the officers discovered two bullets in a black sling bag, in the form of FIOCCHI PL32 and FIOCCHI Buckshot bullets used for a Shotgun 12 Gauge weapon.
This sparked the authorities to lodge a police report at Bangar Police Station, which led to the arrest of two Malaysian men, including the defendant.
Investigations made by the police revealed that sometime on Sept 15, the defendant’s cousin borrowed his black sling bag to send two bullets to the said cousin’s father in Miri.
The following day, on Sept 16, the aforementioned black sling bag was returned to the defendant, who subsequently used it at work.
The sentence was issued under Rule 17(1) of the Arms and Explosives Rules, which was punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than 15 years and shall also be punished with whipping with not less than three strokes and not more than 12 strokes.
The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct 4, with the Magistrate having deferred the sentence to yesterday, which was effective from the day he was arrested, on Sept 18.
The seized items in the form of two bullets were to be forfeited to the state, and any other personal belongings were to be returned to the rightful owner. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
