SINGAPORE — Three foreigners will be charged in court on Tuesday (Jan 14) with illegal entry into Singapore, after they were nabbed at sea by the Police Coast Guard on Sunday evening.

In a news release on Monday, the Singapore Police Force said that the coast guards had arrested a 44-year-old Indonesian man, a 41-year-old Indonesian woman and a 39-year-old Malaysian man for unlawful entry into Singapore.

CHAIN OF EVENTS

The coast guards first detected a fiberglass boat which had no identification numbers at the sea off Eastern Buoy — off the coast of Changi — at about 9.15pm on Sunday.

Two persons were spotted jumping off the boat while the third person remained on board.

Shortly after that, a man who had jumped into the waters was observed to have swum back to the boat, the police said.

The coast guards then immediately intercepted the boat and arrested the two Indonesians on board.

The Malaysian man, believed to be the boatman, was later detained and arrested in the vicinity of the sea off Eastern Buoy.

ON THEIR WAY TO MALAYSIA

Preliminary investigations revealed that the two Indonesians had planned to enter Malaysia illegally via the boat steered by the Malaysian man, in order to seek employment, the police said.

The trio were arrested for entering Singapore unlawfully under the Immigration Act, with the Malaysian man also being investigated for engaging in the business or trade of conveying illegal immigrants to Singapore.

If convicted, they could be jailed up to six months and get at least three strokes of the cane.

If convicted of engaging in the business or trade of smuggling illegal immigrants into Singapore, the offender could be jailed between two and five years and be given at least three strokes of the cane.