A TOUR bus driver who hid an illegal immigrant in the luggage compartment of his bus was jailed for 28 months and ordered to be given four strokes of the cane on Tuesday.

Malaysian Ganesh Kumar Rajagopalan, 34, admitted to engaging in the business of conveying Li Chang Zhong, 41, whom he had reasonable grounds to believe to be a prohibited immigrant, in the vehicle on May 3.

A district court heard that one Kumar, a Malaysian, offered him an alternative to earn money when Ganesh wanted to borrow money for his mother's medical expenses in April.

Ganesh accepted the offer. He was promised RM2,000 (S$823) if he succeeded in bringing the two persons out of Singapore on May 3.

That evening, he picked up the Chinese national, Li and Chong Hoon Cheong, 48, a Singaporean, near Clementi MRT station.

When the bus was travelling along Ayer Rajah Expressway, he stopped the bus along a road shoulder and asked the two men to hide in the luggage compartment.

But the pair were found out during a security check at Tuas checkpoint.

Li was sentenced to eight weeks and four strokes in May for entering Singapore without a valid pass. The case against Cheong, who is facing drug charges, is pending.

Ganesh, who has a second charge taken into consideration, could have been jailed for up to five years and given not less than three strokes of the cane for the offence.