Man Sells 10 Fighting Fish on Telegram from His Ang Mo Kio Flat and was Fined $3000

Educators always try to drill into students the importance of the spirit of enterprise and entrepreneurship, which admittedly are important qualities to have in this highly competitive age of business and commerce. 

However, a man who was fined for selling fighting fish out of his home may have taken it a little too far. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

Man Sells 10 Fighting Fish on Telegram from His Ang Mo Kio Flat 

Muhammad Irfan Khairudin, 28, was fined $3,000 in court on Wednesday (17 Mar) for one count of using his home as a pet shop to sell 10 fighting fish, as well as two counts of deliberately keeping wildlife without permission. 

At the beginning of 2019, Irfan had started a Telegram account called “Ayam Betta”, in which he posted his fighting fish for sale and sold his first fish for $20 shortly after. 

He has since sold 10 fish from his residence through Telegram without a proper pet shop license. 

2 Bearded Dragons were found too

After the National Parks Board (NParks) received information in April 2020 that someone was selling fighting fish through the app, they visited Irfan’s home in Ang Mo Kio in July 2020 and discovered two live Central Bearded Dragons being kept in the residential unit without prior approval. 

Central Bearded Dragons are a species of lizard originating from Australia. According to the prosecutor, the ones found in Singapore are often smuggled illegally from Johor Bahru and can turn into potential hazards if they escape by accident. 

The prosecutor asked for a fine of $3,000 and mentioned that the charges for intentionally keeping wildlife were new offences. 

Irfan did not say anything in mitigation. He was allowed to pay $1,000 upfront, with the remaining $2,000 to be paid by the end of April. 

He could have been fined up to $5,000 for using his home as a pet shop to sell fish, and for intentionally housing wildlife he could have faced imprisonment up to six months, fined up to $10,000 or both. 

Animal Trader Jailed and Fined for Attempting to Smuggle Endangered Animals into Singapore 

In another incident, the co-owner of an exotic animals shop in Johor Bahru was sentenced to two months’ jail and fined for smuggling 22 illegal animals including poison dart frogs and an Argentine tegu into Singapore. 

He had been taking orders for the animals from customers in Singapore and obtained the animals from suppliers in Malaysia before smuggling them across the Causeway. 

The animals had been kept in food containers such as sealed biscuit tins and a breakfast cereal box.

You can read more about the incident here.

Featured Image: panpilai paipa / Shutterstock.com