Man Tried to Smuggle 6 Puppies & A Bird Under His Car Seat; 5 of Them Died

People have tried to smuggle all sorts of things into Singapore.

These include drugs, duty-unpaid cigarettes, and bubble tea.

According to st-

Singapore Customs: Who is smuggling in bubble tea?

Oh no one. Definitely not a friend of mine during the circuit breaker last year. Nope.

According to statistics that I just made up, about 98% of the things which people attempt to smuggle in are all inanimate objects.

But, believe it or not, some people try to smuggle in living, breathing creatures, and under their car seat at that.

Man Caught Smuggling 6 Puppies & A Bird Under His Car Seat

On 14 March last year, Somasundram Pathumalai, 36, was driving a car into Singapore at about 3am when he was stopped at Woodlands Checkpoint.

When officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) checked his car, they were shocked to discover six sedated puppies and a white-rumped shama bird which was trapped in a tube closed off with cable ties and a stick.

The six puppies were a mix of Great Danes and German Shepherds.

The poor animals were stuffed and hidden into a compartment under the third-row passenger seat, which measured 77cm in length, 31cm in width and 12cm in height.

Somasundram admitted that the animals belonged to him and officers discovered that he did not have a valid licence to import them from Malaysia.

The animals were seized and the case was referred to NParks for investigations.

4 Puppies & Bird Ended Up Dying

As the prosecution noted in court, the condition of transport of the animals was unsuitable and would have caused unnecessary suffering.

Sadly, the bird died more than a month after it was seized by the authorities and quarantined for observation.

Four of the puppies died between 11 and 16 days after Somasundram was caught.

Sentenced to Six Months Jail

The offender, a Singaporean, was sentenced yesterday (23 June) to six months’ jail for his smuggling attempt.

Investigations revealed that he was offered S$500 to smuggle the animals by another Singaporean man.

It turns out that the man’s brother-in-law was accused of being involved as well, as he allegedly instructed Somasundram to drive to Malaysia to pick up the animals.

The cases for both men are pending.

As NParks reiterated in its statement, smuggling animals from unknown sources may introduce exotic diseases into the country, as their health status is unknown.

The import of all animals into Singapore requires approval from the agency, it added.

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