Bangladeshi is first person convicted over Wang Kelian mass graves discovery
NEW STRAITS TIMES
KANGAR: A 32-year-old Bangladeshi has become the first person to be convicted in connection with the discovery of over 100 graves and bodies at Wang Kelian last year.
Nurul Islam will be spending 10 years behind bars after the accused pleaded guilty at the High Court here today to three counts of smuggling migrants at Wang Kelian between 2014 and 2015.
Judicial Commissioner Abu Bakar Katar sentenced the accused to 10 years' jail for each charge and ordered the jail term to run concurrently from the date of his arrest, which was on May 2 this year.
Earlier, Nurul Islam, who was clad in a pink baju melayu and kopiah, broke down in tears in the dock when mitigating in his mother tongue.
According to the interpreter, the accused admitted he was wrong but at the same time, claimed that he was forced to commit the offences by another agent who would beat him if he refused to follow orders.
The accused also said he has a wife and three children back in Bangladesh and hoped to be able to return home as there was no one else to look after his family.
Nurul Islam was found guilty of smuggling a Bangladeshi, Mohamad Nurbasya, at Bukit Genting Perah, at 4pm between November 2014 and May 3, 2015.
For the second offence, Nurul Islam had smuggled another Bangladeshi, known as Delwar, at Bukit Genting Perah and Bukit Wang Burma, between October 2014 and April 2015.
As for the third count, he had committed the same offence, this time involving a man named Joy from Bangladesh, also at Bukit Genting Perah at 4pm between November 2014 and May 3, 2015.
At the same court, three other illegal immigrants, comprising two Rohingya from Myanmar and a Thai national, claimed trial to the smuggling of migrants charge at Wang Kelian .
Biau Wong Chumpo, 32, from Thailand was alleged to have smuggled a Bangladeshi migrant Md Tifajir Husin at Bukit Genting Perah and Bukit Wang Burma, at 1.30am between October 2014 and May 2, 2015.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old Rohingya Shahidullah @ Syahidullah had allegedly smuggled a Myanmar migrant named Mohd Belai at Bukit Wang Burma at 5.30am between August 2014 and March 10,2015.
Another Rohingya, Momotin @ Dus Mohamad, 19, pleaded not guilty to the charge of smuggling a Myanmar migrant known as Mohd Belai, at Bukit Wang Burma at 5.30am between August 2014 and March 10, 2015.
Abu Bakar fixed mention on July 1 for the three accused to engage counsel.
All of them were charged under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (ATIPSOM) 2007, which carries a maximum 15 years' jail, fine, or both.
Deputy public prosecutors Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas, Afzainizam Abdul Aziz and Nadia Zulkefli prosecuted.
In May last year, police had discovered a total of 139 graves, 106 bodies, believed to be Rohingyas and 29 illegal immigrant detention camps at Bukit Genting Perah and Bukit Wang Burma, about a few hundred metres away from the Malaysia-Thai border in Wang Kelian.
