Singaporean Man Who Tried To Smuggle 23 Puppies From Johor Sentenced To 20 Months In Jail
About half of the puppies died within a month of their rescue.
By Timothy Tuan — 20 Jun 2019, 07:09 PM
Yesterday, 19 June, Singaporean Cheow Yon Siong was sentenced to 20 months in jail for attempting to smuggle 23 puppies from Johor
The Straits Times reported that Cheow, 53, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Animals and Birds Act - illegally importing the puppies and failing to ensure that they were not kept in confinement and subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering.
The 53-year-old was trying to smuggle the puppies with the help of his accomplice, 23-year-old Malaysian Yeun Jian Jun, by hiding them in cages on his yacht in 2016.
Cheow's 20 months' sentence comes on top of a six-and-a-half years’ jail term he is already serving for drug trafficking offences since August 2018
Cheow will serve his latest sentence upon completing the former.
According to Today Online, in February 2017, Cheow's flat in Hougang was raided by police officers, during which they found that Cheow had consumed methamphetamine.
He had 0.27g of the drugs in his possession.
Cheow's Malaysian accomplice had received a call from a man asking him to smuggle puppies to Singapore for SGD1,000
It was revealed that five days later, Yeun went to Cheow's flat in Hougang and the duo took a cab to Marina Country Club.
According to Today Online, they took a yacht to Sebana Cove in Johor to collect six cages that had nine Poodles, five Shih Tzus, four Pomeranians, three French bulldogs, and two Golden Retrievers.
Before heading back to Singapore, the duo covered the cages with large bath towels.
During the incident, the yacht was inspected by a few Police Coast Guard officers in the waters
During the inspection, one of the officers found the puppies after hearing dogs barking from a cargo that was covered by towels.
Yeun said that the puppies belonged to them and were earlier taken to Malaysia to receive vaccination as reported by Today Online.
However, when questioned, neither Cheow nor Yeun could provide any licence or claims to prove their statement.
The Police Coast Guard officers then referred the case to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA)
Upon inspection, AVA discovered that the puppies were only four to eight weeks old.
Some of the puppies were lethargic and unwilling to eat while some also developed signs of vomiting and diarrhoea.
Despite receiving veterinary treatment, 10 of the youngest dogs died from parvovirus, a contagious virus that mainly affects dogs, while one had to be euthanised.
