Jailed for people smuggling and fake travel documents

By Isabel Hayes

A man who smuggled two women into the country on the promise of work here has been jailed for two years.

Tie Yuen Seng (46) of no fixed abode from outside the jurisdiction, but originally from Malaysia, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of people smuggling and two counts of possessing fraudulent travel documents at Dublin Airport on September 2, 2023.

Detective Garda Joe Gavin told Michael Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that on the day in question, Seng flew into Dublin airport from Italy.

He told immigration officers he was here on holiday, but their suspicions were aroused and his bags were searched.

Two Taiwanese passports depicting two women were found in his luggage.

At the same time, two women who had travelled on the same flight as Seng presented at immigration control saying they had no documentation and were seeking asylum.

The court heard the women were similar to those in the Taiwanese passports.

Det Gda Gavin told the court that when people arrive with no documents, it is harder for investigating officers to ascertain their true nationality.

Seng was arrested and when questioned, told gardaí that he was paid a sum of money to travel with the two women to Ireland.

He said he was offered a job in a factory in Ireland in return for doing so.

Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, told the court heard Seng was working in marketing in Malaysia when he developed a gambling addiction and got into debt.

He told gardaí he fled Malaysia after a criminal gang put him and his sister under pressure, and was living illegally in Italy for a number of years.

Det Gda Gavin said gardaí found records of Seng living in Germany and Austria under different names but they were confident they had established his true identity through the Malaysian authorities.

He has a small number of convictions for drug offences in Malaysia, the court heard.

Sentencing Seng today, Judge Martin Nolan set a headline sentence of four years.

He reduced this term to two years taking mitigating factors into account, including Seng’s early guilty pleas, cooperation with gardaí and the fact he is a foreign national in custody.