SINGAPORE: Assuming that he was wanted by the police for his involvement in a gang fight, a Singaporean man left for Malaysia. He later got a fake Malaysian passport which he used to visit family in Singapore between 2008 and 2009.
Andrew Lu Eng Leong, 58, was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail on Friday (Dec 29) after he pleaded guilty to five charges under the Immigration Act.
These charges related to his failure to present a Singapore passport when entering Singapore, producing a misleading document and making a false statement to obtain a visit pass.
Four other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
In a media statement on Friday, a spokesperson for the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that the agency regularly reviews and enhances the robustness of the immigration processes and systems.
“Since July 2020, all automated and manual immigration lanes/counters at the passenger halls of Singapore’s land, sea and air checkpoints have been equipped with iris and facial scanners,” the spokesperson said.
ICA added that the concurrent use of these biometric identifiers, in addition to fingerprint screening as a secondary biometric identifier will provide even more reliable authentication of the identity of travellers.
This will also further strengthen ICA’s ability to safeguard Singapore’s borders.
FALSE IDENTITY
The court heard that Lu had departed for Malaysia early in 1991, using his Singapore passport, after forming the belief that he was wanted by the police for his involvement in a gang fight.
Court documents did not specify if Lu was correct in his belief about being wanted by police.
His Singapore passport expired on Feb 27, 1991.
Sometime between 2000 and 2004, Lu obtained a fraudulent Malaysian identity card, under the name “Low Kheng Nyok” through a Malaysian friend at a fee of RM10,000 (S$2,850) to RM20,000.
A year after he got his Malaysian identity card, Lu obtained a Malaysian passport with his photograph and fake particulars.
He wanted to travel to Singapore to visit his family and ageing mother but Lu did not want to use his actual identity as he still believed he was wanted by the authorities.
In 2006, Lu obtained a second Malaysia passport in a similar fashion even though he knew that the particulars in both passports did not represent him, said Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Muhammad Izzat from ICA.
