A 36-year-old Indian-origin man has been sentenced to a year in prison for smuggling 26 dogs and a cat, out of which 19 died, in his lorry from Malaysia to Singapore.

In one of the most shocking cases of live animal trafficking seen so far, Gobysuwaran Paraman Sivan from Malaysia pleaded guilty to 20 charges under the Animals and Birds Act, The Straits Times reported.

Sivan worked as a lorry driver to transport construction materials from Malaysia to Singapore via Tuas Checkpoint, charging S$75 per animal.

Since 2021, Sivan has been regularly smuggling animals, such as dogs, cats and parrots, around two to three times a month, putting them into boxes, containers and laundry bags that were zipped up.

The boxes were placed in hidden compartments behind the driver's and passenger's seats and an overhead compartment, the report said.

On October 18, 2022, Sivan's lorry was checked by an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority at the Tuas checkpoint, who found dogs and a cat alive in the vehicle.

While an adult French bulldog died due to insufficient ventilation, 18 of the other dogs died later from a highly contagious virus transmitted by faecal-oral contact.

Only seven dogs and the cat survived, the prosecution said, adding that these animals were in weak condition and suffered from diarrhoea, parasites and inflammatory skin conditions.

"He comes from a low-income background and solely provides for the care and medical expenses of his aged mother," defence lawyer Ashvin Hariharan said, adding that Sivan is genuinely remorseful, The Straits Times reported.

"The accused committed the act of confining or conveying the animals in a manner that subjected them to unnecessary suffering for financial gain," District Judge Lorraine Ho said.

In Singapore, first-time offenders caught importing any animal or bird without a licence may be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to a year, or both. [IANS/JS]