A 43-year-old Malaysian man of Indian origin has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail and fined SGD 2,500 in Singapore after he was caught smuggling a sedated puppy across the border in a laundry net, reports said.
As reported by Channel News Asia (CNA), Mahentharan Ganesan, who runs a transport business in Malaysia, pleaded guilty to importing an animal without a licence and two counts of failing to provide proper care. Another related charge was also taken into consideration by the court.
The case revealed that Mahentharan had borrowed money from an unknown person in Malaysia. To settle the debt, he got involved in an illegal animal smuggling operation. Though he was hesitant at first, he finally agreed due to rising financial pressure.
He was later introduced to a man only known as “Mr Dog”, who coordinated the movement of animals from Malaysia into Singapore.
Mahentharan’s job was to collect puppies or kittens, often packed in boxes or even laundry nets, from various contacts in Malaysia and transport them across the border. For each trip, he received a payment of just SGD 60, no matter how many animals he carried.
On 20 October 2023, officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority at Tuas checkpoint found a Labrador puppy hidden inside the spare tyre compartment of Mahentharan’s vehicle. The puppy had been sedated and stuffed inside a laundry net. Mahentharan said he was acting under the instructions of Mr Dog.
Although he was released on bail in November 2024, Mahentharan later took up another job involving animals. This time, he was contacted by a man named “Michael” through a Telegram group called “SG Pet Discussion”. He was paid SGD 150 to bring three puppies from Malaysia for grooming and boarding in Singapore.
While he managed to deliver two of the puppies, he failed to hand over the third one – a brown dachshund. Instead, he abandoned the puppy at the void deck of his HDB block in Singapore. A member of the public witnessed the act and alerted the authorities.
According to CNA, the source of the animals smuggled into Singapore, as well as the true identities of Mr Dog, Michael, and the mysterious lender, are still unknown.
