(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Three Sri Lankan men were convicted and sentenced in Singapore on Friday (July 20) to eight months’ jail for possessing forged Malaysia visas in their passports, the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement on Monday (23).They were arrested by ICA officers on June 27 after anomalies were detected in their visas during checks at Woodlands Checkpoint, the Straits Times reported.
Nalliah Selvamany Rohan, 26, Kanthanadan Jasitharan, 23, and Roopan Diasrepinsan, 20, were looking for employment outside of Sri Lanka.
The first two approached a Sri Lankan agent, Rajanikanth, to make arrangements for a trip to Malaysia for 305,000 Sri Lankan rupees (S$2,600) each. The third approached another agent to make the same trip for 500,000 Sri Lankan rupees.
Rohan and Jasitharan arrived in Singapore on June 18, and the forged Malaysian visas were attached to their passports. Roopan arrived on June 26 and did the same.
On June 27, Rajanikanth arranged for a Malaysian taxi to take the three men to Malaysia at about 8pm. ICA officers nabbed the trio at about 9.20pm.
Rajanikanth had left Singapore before investigations started, and the Malaysian taxi driver was not found to be involved in the scam.
Under the Passports Act Section 47(6), a person convicted of knowingly possessing false foreign travel documents may be fined up to $10,000 or to imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or to both.
