Indonesian Man defies ban, swims illegally into Singapore using trash bag, evades detection for 10 months

SINGAPORE: An Indonesian man, previously deported and banned from entering Singapore for immigration offences, illegally reentered the country by swimming from Malaysia with a makeshift trash bag as a flotation device.

Notably, He remained undetected in Singapore from January until his arrest on October 23 at Woodlands Road by ICA officers, as he couldn’t provide evidence of legal stay.

According to CNA, the 34-year-old, Muhammad Izal, had been charged in Singapore for immigration offences four times before.

In August 2021, he was charged for entering Singapore without a valid pass and re-entering illegally after deportation, leading to a September 2021 conviction, sentencing him to a year in jail and six strokes of the cane.

Upon release in April 2022, he was referred to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) for repatriation.

Before his deportation, Izal received a notice explicitly barring him from re-entering Singapore without prior permission from the Controller of Immigration, with the potential for prosecution and imprisonment if violated.

The notice emphasized the necessity of obtaining written permission from the Controller of Immigration to enter or reside in Singapore in the future, warning that failure to do so would lead to prosecution and a jail term of one to three years upon conviction.

Izal acknowledged the notice by imprinting his thumb on it and was subsequently deported back to Indonesia on May 28, 2022.

Following a brief seven-month stay in his home country, Izal made the decision to illegally return to Singapore in search of illicit employment.

He took a ferry from Batam, Indonesia, to Stulang Laut in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, spending two nights there before swimming towards Singapore’s Pulau Ubin island.

Using a black trash bag as an inflatable floating device, as revealed in court documents, Izal swam to Pulau Ubin, where he rested for half an hour before continuing his journey towards Changi Beach.

Remaining undetected, Izal illegally resided in Singapore for approximately 10 months until October 23 of the current year when he was apprehended by ICA officers on Woodlands Road due to his failure to provide evidence of legal residence in Singapore.

He was then referred to ICA’s investigation branch, where his fingerprints were linked to a person with an “adverse record” under the name of Muhammad Izal.

In his defence, he expressed remorse, highlighting his familial responsibilities towards his children and sick parents.

During the court proceedings, he pleaded guilty to one count each of entering Singapore without a valid pass and entering Singapore without permission subsequent to his deportation from Singapore in May 2022.

On Thursday (2nd November), the Singapore court sentenced Izal to 15 months’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane.