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SINGAPORE:\u00a0 A Singaporean man, who fled the country illegally on a fishing boat more than 20 years ago to avoid serving a jail sentence, was caught at Changi Airport after returning under a false identity.<\/span><\/p>\n Tan Khi Wie, 58, was sentenced on Tuesday (Aug 11) to 14 months’ and three weeks’ jail after he was convicted of six charges under the Immigration Act and Penal Code.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another 16 charges under the Immigration Act were taken into consideration for sentencing.<\/span><\/p>\n The Singapore Police Force and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a joint news release on Tuesday that Tan was arrested on Mar 7 this year when he tried to clear immigration at Changi Airport using an Indonesian passport bearing the name “Ken Srona”.<\/span><\/p>\n He was unable to complete immigration clearance at the automated lanes, prompting ICA officers to conduct further checks.<\/span><\/p>\n The checks established his real identity and revealed that he was wanted by the police. He was detained and handed over to the police.<\/span><\/p>\n Tan was earlier convicted of cheating in August 2002 and sentenced to 18 months’ jail.<\/span><\/p>\n He had cheated the then-Singapore Productivity and Standards Board into disbursing a S$195,800 (then US$109,300) grant under the Local Enterprise Technical Assistance Scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n He filed a notice of appeal against his conviction and sentence that same month, but fled Singapore to avoid serving the jail term.<\/span><\/p>\n Investigations found that sometime between August 2002 and January 2003, he left Singapore illegally on a fishing boat.<\/span><\/p>\n He travelled first to Pasir Gudang in Johor, Malaysia, then to Thailand, and eventually to Jakarta, Indonesia, where he later lived.<\/span><\/p>\n He failed to appear at a court mention for his appeal on Jan 21, 2003, and a warrant of arrest was issued against him on Feb 20 that year.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite being wanted by the authorities, Tan returned to Singapore several times.<\/span><\/p>\n Between 2011 and 2016, he used Indonesian passports bearing the false identity “Ken Srona” to enter and leave Singapore on multiple occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n “Tan also falsely declared in his disembarkation forms that he had never used a passport under a different name to enter Singapore,” the police and ICA said.<\/span><\/p>\n For his various offences, he was convicted of two charges of failing to present a valid passport, as well as one charge each of making a false statement in an arrival disembarkation card, knowingly producing a false passport, departing Singapore illegally and failing to attend court.<\/span><\/p>\n ICA said that it has strengthened its immigration clearance processes and systems by using biometrics and data analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n Since July 2020, multi-modal biometric systems have been deployed at Singapore’s checkpoints for better detection of people using multiple or assumed identities.<\/span><\/p>\n All automated lanes at Singapore’s land, sea and air checkpoints are equipped with <\/span>iris and facial scanners<\/span>, and the concurrent use of these biometric identifiers “provides a highly accurate means of authenticating travellers’ identities and further strengthens ICA’s ability to safeguard Singapore’s borders”, it added.<\/p>\nFLED SINGAPORE ON A FISHING BOAT<\/h2>\n
RETURNED TO SINGAPORE UNDER FALSE IDENTITY<\/h2>\n