Kota Kinabalu: Four men were jailed a year each for having bombed fish.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus handed the sentence to Skipper Saldi Gumbahali, 60, crew members Junyoul Nastih, 49, Saldi Ginaldo, 31, and Welmin Muin, 43, who changed their plea and admitted to the charge against them on Monday.
They were found having the 10 fish caught using explosives at 5.50pm on July 23 this year in a boat at the South Hill Rock waters in Pulau Manukan, here.
The offence, under Section 26(1)(c) of the Fisheries Act 1985 and punishable under Section 25(a) of the same Act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for a fine of up to RM20,000, or a jail term of up to two years, or both, on conviction.
The court ordered all of them to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest.
After completing the jail sentence, the court ordered them except Junyoul, who is Malaysian citizen, to be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation.
The court also ordered all the exhibits seized to be forfeited to the Government of Malaysia.
During mitigation, the four asked for leniency as they have families to look after.
However, Prosecuting Officer William Apin from the Fishery Department urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence for public interest as well as to prevent the sources of fish and marine habitat.
He added that the sentence was also meant to stop the fish bombing activity in Sabah.
The court heard that Marine Police stopped the boat and found about 200kg of various types of fish, believed caught with explosives.
The team also found equipment to bomb the fish in the boat.
The four men, three of them who did not have any identification document, were arrested on suspicion of catching the fish with explosives.
Ten of the fish were sent to the Fisheries Department for investigation and the chemist’s report confirmed that they were caught using explosives.
