Kota Kinabalu: Seventeen Vietnamese were charged with entering the State without identification documents.
All of them were brought before Sessions Court Judge Azreena Aziz to face the charge against them on Monday.
Eleven of them pleaded guilty to entering the State illegally and were sentenced to six months’ jail each, while the rest pleaded not guilty to the charge.
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The court set Jan 7 next year for case management and Feb 18-19, 2021 to hear the case for those who claimed trial.
The Vietnamese were arrested at 6.15pm on July 1 this year inside a vessel in Pulau Menggalum, here, after failing to produce their identification documents to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement (MME).