Jail, caning for tugboat crew member who helped foreigners enter Singapore illegally
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On Dec 17, tugboat crew member Febry Iswanto, 23, was sentenced to eight months’ jail and three strokes of the cane over his role in the unlawful operation.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
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SINGAPORE – A tugboat crew member agreed to smuggle multiple foreigners into Singapore
To date, the foreigners have not been identified and are still at large. Details about their nationalities were not disclosed in court documents.
On Dec 17, tugboat crew member Febry Iswanto, 23, was sentenced to eight months’ jail and three strokes of the cane over his role in the unlawful operation.
The Indonesian, who received payment of only a million rupiah in the end, pleaded guilty to one count of helping three foreigners enter Singapore illegally.
Another charge involving two foreigners was considered during his sentencing.
The court heard that in March 2024, Febry started working on an Indonesia-registered tugboat that towed a barge.
While working on the vessels, he got to know “Jefryansyah”, who was sacked later that year due to poor performance.
The pair kept in touch, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Thaddeus Tan.
On one occasion before Aug 31, Jefryansyah texted Febry, offering him 1.5 million rupiah for every person he helped to transport from Indonesia to Singapore via the vessels.
Despite knowing that he would be committing an offence, Febry accepted the offer as he needed money to modify his motorcycle.
In late August, the barge and tugboat were in Indonesian waters and on their way to Singapore when a small boat carrying two unknown people came towards them.
The pair boarded the vessels and hid inside an anchor compartment.
The vessels arrived at Singapore’s Pulau Punggol Aggregate Terminal to unload granite on Aug 30.
Shortly before 3am the next day, Febry told Jefryansyah to inform the pair what to do next.
The DPP said: “The accused then turned off the floodlights on the vessels, went to the anchor compartment and called out the names of these two unknown persons who emerged from hiding.
“The accused then (took) them to the stern of the vessels, told them to swim to mainland Singapore and... hide in a forested area.”
The two unknown persons did as they were told and made their way to mainland Singapore.
However, Jefryansyah later told Febry that only one of them managed to reach a certain “safe place”.
Febry subsequently received a payment of a million rupiah via a bank transfer.
In October, Jefryansyah approached him again with a similar proposition.
Three unknown people boarded the vessels while they were in Indonesian waters on Oct 25.
Upon reaching Pulau Punggol Aggregate Terminal, Febry told the trio to swim to mainland Singapore, and they did as they were told.
Court documents stated that he was not paid for his involvement in this second operation.
Singapore’s Police Coast Guard later received information that the crew of the vessels had abetted three unknown people in entering the country illegally.
Febry was arrested on Nov 9, and he was charged in court two days later.
