Kota Kinabalu: The Sessions Court here has sentenced 41 illegal immigrants to jail terms for entering Sabah without valid documents.
The accused, comprising 37 Filipinos and four Indonesians, pleaded guilty to charges framed under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 36 of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Thirty-eight of the offenders were sentenced to four months' jail for unlawful entry, while three others received a total of 10 months' imprisonment for re-entering the State illegally after a previous deportation, with the male convicts also ordered to be whipped.
The court directed all convicts to serve their jail terms from their respective dates of arrest and to be handed over to the Immigration Department for deportation upon completing their sentences.
In a separate case, a Chinese national was fined RM15,000 in default nine months' jail after pleading guilty to overstaying by 34 days and possessing an irregular Social Visit Pass at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
