A 28-year-old woman has become the first person in the city-state to receive a custodial sentence for keeping animals in captivity for sale at unlicensed premises.
The case came to light after the woman, Ng Siew Teng, and her husband, Callurn Lim, 34, were arrested on Dec 27, 2023, for their involvement in a scheme to illegally import puppies from Malaysia for sale in Singapore.
Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers uncovered the scheme after finding five smuggled puppies, including two hidden in a pet carrier inside a plastic storage container, at Woodlands Checkpoint.
“Investigations found that the couple had kept illicitly imported puppies at their residence, and profited approximately USS$21,000 from selling 21 puppies through Instagram,” said National Parks Board (NParks) in a statement on Tuesday.
Ng and Lim pleaded guilty to five charges and were each sentenced to 19 weeks and three days’ imprisonment and a fine of S$5,000 (RM15,900) on Aug 5 and Sept 11, respectively.
In a separate case, Sundra Pandian, 33, received the heaviest sentence to date for the same offence after 13 smuggled animals were found at his residence.
NParks said the animals were smuggled from Thailand through Malaysia by a transnational syndicate for sale in Singapore.
Sundra pleaded guilty to nine charges and was sentenced to 24 weeks’ imprisonment on Aug 17. — Bernama
