SINGAPORE: A man who concealed a puppy in a laundry bag while smuggling it into Singapore from Malaysia was sentenced to eight weeks' jail and fined S$2,500 on Tuesday (Apr 15).
Mahentharan Ganesan, 43, pleaded guilty to three charges – one count of importing an animal without a licence and two counts of breaching his duty of care as an animal owner, with another charge taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that the accused owned a transportation company in Malaysia.
He had borrowed some money from an unknown person, who had offered the accused a job to repay his debt by bringing animals into Singapore illegally from Malaysia.
The accused was initially asked to bring in puppies or kittens from Malaysia to Singapore with his own vehicle.
Initially, he had refused to do so as he was aware this was illegal. However, he eventually agreed to deliver the animals due to his bad financial circumstances.
Later, the unknown person introduced Mahentharan to another man whom he referred to as “Mr Dog”.
Mr Dog informed the accused of the job assignments and instructed him on the process.
Mahentharan would then collect the animals from another party and deliver them to other recipients in Singapore.
The animals would sometimes be in laundry bags or boxes and seemed to be sleepy, according to court documents.
The accused was paid S$60 in cash for each trip from the recipient, regardless of the number of animals delivered, though he usually delivered between one and three animals per trip.
He claimed that there was no regular location where he would meet to collect the animals and that the people who delivered the animals to him would also be different at times.
It is not clear how many assignments the accused had completed in Singapore.
The identities of Mr Dog and the man Mahentharan owed money to, as well as where the animals originated from, remain unknown.
On Oct 20, 2023, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officers at Tuas checkpoint detected one live puppy concealed in a laundry bag and hidden in the spare tyre compartment of Mahentharan’s vehicle during an inspection.
The labrador puppy appeared to be sleeping and according to the accused, he had been informed by Mr Dog that it was sedated.
The accused did not have the requisite import permit.
Following an examination of the puppy, a report found that it had experienced pain and suffering as it was transported in cramped conditions.
The puppy would have been prevented from standing, turning around, and lying down in a natural manner, considering the dimensions of the compartment and the size of the puppy, read the report.
The report also found that the puppy suffered from poor ventilation as the spare tyre compartment used to transport it was concealed on all sides.
While Mahentharan was offered and released on bail on Nov 6, 2024, he went on to take up a delivery job from someone named “Michael” whom he met on a Telegram group chat called “SG Pet Discussion”.
Michael made arrangements with the accused to pick up puppies for grooming and boarding, and Mahentharan was paid a total of S$150 for the job.
On Dec 11, 2024, Mahentharan collected three puppies and managed to deliver two of them.
However, when he failed to deliver the last puppy – a brown Daschund - he resorted to abandoning it at the void deck of his HDB flat.
A member of the public happened to witness the abandonment act by the accused and reported it to the authorities.
Continue reading...
Mahentharan Ganesan, 43, pleaded guilty to three charges – one count of importing an animal without a licence and two counts of breaching his duty of care as an animal owner, with another charge taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that the accused owned a transportation company in Malaysia.
He had borrowed some money from an unknown person, who had offered the accused a job to repay his debt by bringing animals into Singapore illegally from Malaysia.
The accused was initially asked to bring in puppies or kittens from Malaysia to Singapore with his own vehicle.
Initially, he had refused to do so as he was aware this was illegal. However, he eventually agreed to deliver the animals due to his bad financial circumstances.
Later, the unknown person introduced Mahentharan to another man whom he referred to as “Mr Dog”.
Mr Dog informed the accused of the job assignments and instructed him on the process.
Mahentharan would then collect the animals from another party and deliver them to other recipients in Singapore.
The animals would sometimes be in laundry bags or boxes and seemed to be sleepy, according to court documents.
The accused was paid S$60 in cash for each trip from the recipient, regardless of the number of animals delivered, though he usually delivered between one and three animals per trip.
He claimed that there was no regular location where he would meet to collect the animals and that the people who delivered the animals to him would also be different at times.
It is not clear how many assignments the accused had completed in Singapore.
The identities of Mr Dog and the man Mahentharan owed money to, as well as where the animals originated from, remain unknown.
On Oct 20, 2023, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officers at Tuas checkpoint detected one live puppy concealed in a laundry bag and hidden in the spare tyre compartment of Mahentharan’s vehicle during an inspection.
The labrador puppy appeared to be sleeping and according to the accused, he had been informed by Mr Dog that it was sedated.
The accused did not have the requisite import permit.
Following an examination of the puppy, a report found that it had experienced pain and suffering as it was transported in cramped conditions.
The puppy would have been prevented from standing, turning around, and lying down in a natural manner, considering the dimensions of the compartment and the size of the puppy, read the report.
The report also found that the puppy suffered from poor ventilation as the spare tyre compartment used to transport it was concealed on all sides.
ACCUSED ALSO ABANDONED A DOG
While Mahentharan was offered and released on bail on Nov 6, 2024, he went on to take up a delivery job from someone named “Michael” whom he met on a Telegram group chat called “SG Pet Discussion”.
Michael made arrangements with the accused to pick up puppies for grooming and boarding, and Mahentharan was paid a total of S$150 for the job.
On Dec 11, 2024, Mahentharan collected three puppies and managed to deliver two of them.
However, when he failed to deliver the last puppy – a brown Daschund - he resorted to abandoning it at the void deck of his HDB flat.
A member of the public happened to witness the abandonment act by the accused and reported it to the authorities.
Continue reading...