Imagine being on the run for 20 whole years.
Impossibly difficult to picture?
Well, that’s what this 46-year-old offender had signed up for.
Man Arrested After 20 Years on the Run for Smuggling Immigrants
According to various news reports, Siva Kumar Ramachandram, 46, has been sentenced in court, 20 years after he was first scheduled to turn up for a hearing.
He was sentenced to an extra six months of jail for his misdemeanour.
According to The Straits Times, he had been convicted in 1999 for smuggling illegal immigrants out of Woodlands Checkpoint.
He was given a jail sentence of five years, as well as 12 strokes of the cane, on 24 September 1999.
Things soon got out of hand, however, when he fled to Malaysia.
With the help of someone known only as “Boy”, he misled an immigration officer using an unidentified individual’s passport.
Siva then seized the chance to cross over to Malaysia.
As a result of the escapade, he ended up missing the appeal hearing on 9 March 2000.
He was reportedly on court bail at the time of escape.
But the great Malaysian run was never meant to be a permanent one.
On 4 March 2020, he was finally apprehended by the CPIB (with the assistance of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).
And on 16 April 2021, he was charged under the Immigration Act and Penal Code.
Siva will serve his additional six-month jail sentence after five years of imprisonment.
“The invaluable assistance and strong support by the MACC has resulted in Siva’s arrest on Mar 4, 2020,” said CPIB.
“CPIB is grateful for the close collaboration with the MACC on this case to ensure that the offender was brought to justice and there was no escaping the long arm of the law,” it said.
“CPIB’s mandate is to investigate into any act of corruption in the public and private sectors in Singapore, and in the course of doing so, any other offences under any written law,” it said.
Smuggling
Unfortunately, smuggling isn’t exactly a rarity on these shores.
Though instead of immigrants, the trend appears to lean more towards products in general.
In 2019, for instance, two men were caught trying to smuggle 2,500 cartons of contraband cigarettes into Singapore.
ICA officers reportedly found 2,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed in wooden planks.
And some time ago, a bus from Malaysia tried to smuggle 815 birds into Singapore.
Only 600 survived.
The birds consisted of the following species:
- 38 White-rumped Shamas
- 10 Oriental Magpie-Robins
- 141 Oriental White-eyes
- 626 Munias (Scaly-breasted Munia and White-headed Munia)
Featured Image: Amnat Phuthamrong/ Shutterstock.com