BY Fadley Faisal

A 54-year-old Indonesian man was ordered to settle a BND39,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to two charges of being in possession of smuggled cigarettes on Thursday.

Basroni would have to serve 19 months’ jail in default of payment.

Senior Magistrate Hajah Ervy Sufitriana binti Haji Abdul Rahman sitting in the Kuala Belait court house heard from the customs prosecutor that a raid was conducted on the defendant’s living quarters at Sungai Tali, Lumut on April 24.

Customs enforcement officers received information that the defendant had been selling cigarettes to the public.

Officers found three cartons and 15 packets of cigarettes along with BND5,715 cash proceeds from sales of cigarettes. The following day, officers brought the defendant to his workplace at a bus parking area in Sungai Tali, where he further revealed 38 cartons of cigarettes hidden in nearby bushes.

He also admitted that he sold cigarettes to the public.

Magistrate Hajah Ervy Sufitriana ordered the cigarettes and cash to be forfeited to the state.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin