Fadley Faisal
The Magistrate’s Court yesterday handed a year’s jail sentence to a Filipino national for re-entering the country.
Fifty-three-year-old Gaira Mansurani Hamid was also ordered to settle a BND1,000 fine, or serve an additional month’s jail, after she pleaded guilty to the charge stating that she had re-entered the Sultanate on March 5, 2016.
Immigration prosecutor Adi Yusra bin Haji Adanan revealed in court that the defendant was detained at 4.30pm on January 19 at her rented quarters in Kampong Kiulap by a team of immigration officers who grew suspicious of her when they inspected her passport. She was taken in for questioning.
Investigations further unearthed that the defendant had been repatriated on February 25, 2015 after her release from prison for a previous conviction of importing drugs into the country. She had been listed A since then, effectively prohibiting her from re-entering.
Magistrate Syaffina binti Shahif further heard that the woman had altered her passport to be able to re-enter the country without being detected as a person prohibited from entering Brunei, to visit her husband and son, who are in the Sultanate.
