SINGAPORE, Dec 18 — A 23-year-old Indonesian tugboat crew member has been sentenced to eight months’ jail and three strokes of the cane for helping several foreigners enter Singapore illegally.
Febry Iswanto pleaded guilty yesterday to one charge of assisting three foreigners to enter Singapore unlawfully. Another charge involving two more foreigners was taken into consideration during sentencing, according to court documents cited by Singapore daily The Straits Times.
The foreigners involved have not been identified and remain at large. Their nationalities were not disclosed in court.
The court heard that Febry had agreed to help smuggle individuals into Singapore after being promised 1.5 million rupiah (RM365) per person by an acquaintance, despite knowing it was illegal. In the end, he received only one million rupiah for his role.
Febry began working in March 2024 on an Indonesia-registered tugboat that towed a barge. While on board, he became acquainted with a fellow crew member known as “Jefryansyah”, who was later dismissed due to poor performance. The two kept in contact, deputy public prosecutor Thaddeus Tan told the court.
Before August 31, Jefryansyah sent Febry a text message offering payment for every person he helped transport from Indonesia to Singapore using the tugboat and barge. Despite being aware he would be committing an offence, Febry accepted the offer as he needed the money to modify his motorcycle.
In late August, while the vessels were in Indonesian waters en route to Singapore, a small boat approached carrying two unknown individuals. They boarded the tugboat and barge and hid inside an anchor compartment.
The vessels arrived at Singapore’s Pulau Punggol Aggregate Terminal on August 30 to unload granite. Shortly before 3am the next day, Febry contacted Jefryansyah for further instructions.
“The accused then turned off the floodlights on the vessels, went to the anchor compartment and called out the names of these two unknown persons who emerged from hiding,” the DPP said.
“The accused then (took) them to the stern of the vessels, told them to swim to mainland Singapore and… hide in a forested area.”
The two followed the instructions and swam to shore, although Jefryansyah later told Febry that only one of them had made it to a designated “safe place”. Febry subsequently received a bank transfer of one million rupiah.
In October, Jefryansyah approached him again with a similar request. On October 25, three more unknown individuals boarded the vessels while they were still in Indonesian waters.
Once the tugboat reached Pulau Punggol Aggregate Terminal, Febry again instructed them to swim to mainland Singapore, which they did. Court documents stated that he was not paid for this second operation.
Singapore’s Police Coast Guard later received information that crew members had abetted the illegal entry of foreigners into the country. Febry was arrested on November 9 and charged two days later, The Straits Times reported.
