Jail for Malaysian who gave another man his boarding pass while in transit at Changi Airport
An unemployed Malaysian agreed to hand over a boarding pass in his name to another man to enable the latter to fly to Germany, in exchange for money.
The other person, who is from Sri Lanka, wanted to go to Berlin for better job opportunities.
The pair met in Changi Airport - after flying in from Kuala Lumpur and Colombo separately on Feb 10 - and the exchange was done in a toilet.
On Thursday (March 24), the Malaysian man Thasrathan Jegatheson, 49, pleaded guilty to a cheating charge in court , and was sentenced to four months' jail.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En told the court that 26-year-old Mohanathas Kaniyamuthan engaged a human trafficking syndicate in January this year, with his family paying about $13,300.
In February, Thasrathan received a call from a man named Raja, a passenger he met while working as a flight attendant for Malaysia Airlines, asking if he wanted to participate in the arrangement.
Although Thasrathan knew the job, which would see him get paid over RM3,000 (S$960) and an opportunity to spend two days in Bangkok, was illegal, he agreed, due to his financial circumstances.
Thasrathan gave Raja details which included his passport number, Malaysian identity number and passport serial code.
He was asked to take a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and pass the result to Mohanathas.
After an earlier attempt to execute the plan was cancelled due to an invalid PCR test, Thasrathan took a Scoot flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on Feb 10 .
The same day, Mohanathas boarded a flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka that transited in Singapore.
While he used his own passport for this flight, he was instructed to collect the boarding pass and other travel documents from Thasrathan in Singapore in exchange for US$1,000 (S$1,360) cash, and then use a forged passport in Thasrathan's name to travel to Berlin.
Each man was given an idea of what the other looked like and was told not to speak, and communicate only by gestures.
They met at Transfer Area B of Changi Airport and made the exchange of documents and money while in adjoining cubicles in the toilet.
After they parted ways, Mohanathas was arrested by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers. Court documents do not indicate why he was hauled up.
He presented his legitimate boarding pass to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to the officers but they did a more thorough search and found the boarding pass to Berlin and travel documents handed to him by Thasrathan.
They also found the forged passport in a special compartment in the luggage.
Thasrathan who had gone for a meal and a smoke was later arrested by ICA officers.
DPP Chong said: "The messages on the phone between him and Raja could not be retrieved as he had complied with Raja's instructions to delete the messages.
"(Thasrathan) cooperated with the authorities after he was arrested, but was unable to provide further substantive information on Raja beyond Raja's phone number."
The DPP asked for four to five months' imprisonment for Thasrathan. In his written sentencing submissions, he said: "(Thasrathan) flew to Singapore for the express purpose of the fraud. The fact the parties did not exit through to immigration would further reduce the possibility of capture and checks.
"The entire operation was carefully premeditated, and (Thasrathan) kept in close contact with Raja throughout directing the operation."
For cheating by personation, Thasrathan could have been jailed up to five years, fined, or both.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now