A COUPLE who smuggled seven puppies into Singapore were each fined $70,000 yesterday.
As Ang Soon Peng, 44, and his wife Soh Wan Ping, 42, could not pay up, they will each serve default jail terms of seven months.
They each admitted to seven charges of importing the seven-week-old puppies - three poodles and four Japanese spitzes - from Malaysia without a licence. They were caught in a routine check at Woodlands Checkpoint on March 9.
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority prosecuting officer Yap Teck Chuan told the court that the couple hid the puppies under newspapers on the floorboard of the front passenger seat.
They had gone across the Causeway on March 9 to collect the poodle puppies from their contact, paying RM900 (S$370) for each. They also bought the spitzes for RM800 each.
Pressing for a deterrent sentence, Mr Yap told District Judge Carrie Chan that animals cannot be freely imported because quarantine rules are in force; these rules prevent rabies from being re-introduced into Singapore, which has been rabies-free since 1953.
The couple could have been jailed for up to a year on each charge.
(Taken from The Straits Times, Thursday, June 9 2011, Page B11)