KLANG: Two immigration officers are facing life imprisonment after they were charged in the Sessions Court here on Friday with human trafficking end of last month, reports said.
Utusan Malaysia reported that Nasrullah Bakar and Mohamad Hafiz Mohamad Amir were charged with smuggling three Vietnamese at Terminal 2 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang near here on June 30.
According to the charge sheet, the duo, aged between 26 and 32, were accused of smuggling Phong Thi Ngoc Sui, Nguyen Hoai Hung, and Tarn Thi May into the country.
They were charged under Section 26B(d) of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, which carries the minimum of five years' jail or life imprisonment and whipping if convicted.
Hafiz was also charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code for abetment.
No pleas were recorded when the accused were produced before Judge Zulqarnian Hassan.
Deputy public prosecutors Haslinda Che Seman and Nurul A'in Abu Bakar did not offer bail and requested for the case to be transferred to the High Court.
Lawyers Muhammad Syawal Mohd Razak and T. Harpak Singh, who represented Nasrullah and Hafiz respectively, did not object to the request made by the prosecution team.
Harpal requested bail for his client on the grounds that the Sessions Court has the authority to do so.
Zulqarnain denied the request and said the matter would be decided by the High Court.
He, however, granted the request for the case to be transferred and heart at the High Court.