Kota Kinabalu: A man was fined RM10,000 or six months’ jail for importing 8,704kg of frozen beef and pork from other countries without a valid import licence.
Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan ordered Tan Ka Herng to pay the fine after Tan pleaded guilty, Wednesday.
Tan was found importing 38 boxes of frozen beef from Brazil, 240 boxes of frozen pork belly from Holland and 41 boxes of frozen pork from Germany without licence from the Sabah Veterinary Service Department.
The offence took place at 2pm on May 21 at a premises in Jalan Burung Keleto in Inanam, here.
The offence under Section 15(1) of the Animals Enactment 2015 carries a fine of up to RM50,000, or a jail term of up to two years, or both, on conviction.
During mitigation, Tan asked for leniency saying that it was his first offence.
However, Prosecuting Officer Francis Palikat from the Veterinary Service Department urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence so as to give a lesson to the company as well as deter others from committing the similar offence.
Franscis submitted that smuggled frozen meat from other countries could give negative impacts on the livestock industry.
The court heard that a team from the Veterinary Service Department had raided the premises and found the frozen meats without import licence.
Further investigation found that Tan had smuggled the frozen meats from Brazil, Holland and Germany without an import licence.
Tan had failed to show a valid import license for the confiscated products.
As a result of the review in the Exim Davetsa system issued by the Quarantine and Import-Export Section, DVS Sabah Veterinary Health Division found that there was no record of an import licence issued to Tan to bring in frozen meats products from the three countries.
All the products were destroyed using the Organic High Speed Disposal System machine for disease prevention reasons in accordance with Section 62(3) of the Animal Enactment 2015.
Tan paid the fine.
