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Kota Kinabalu: A 32-year-old man was on Wednesday jailed seven years by the High Court  for trafficking six Filipino illegal immigrants.

Amin Ali, a barber, pleaded guilty before Judicial Commissioner Amelati Parnell to trafficking four men and two women, aged between 23 and 30, at 6.30pm between Aug 9, 2017 and Oct 24, 2018 at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), here.

The court ordered Amin to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest on Oct 24, 2018.

The offence under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking-In Persons and Smuggling of the Migrants Act 2007 carries a jail term of up to 15 years, or with a fine, or both, on conviction.

Earlier, the court heard from the prosecution that Amin was arrested by police in a special operation by the Special Branch at the Beaufort weekly market site on Oct 24, 2018, and according to information, he was actively involved in migrant smuggling syndicates.

Police investigations revealed that Amin had been involved in the smuggling six Filipino migrants, the court heard.

Amin was also found to have arranged the travel of the Filipino migrants to the airport and also supplied them with fake identification and travel documents, said the prosecution.

Amin’s counsel requested a lenient sentence as it was his first offence and he has children. Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohammed Ali Imran prosecuted while Amin was represented by counsel Datuk Haji Ansari Abdullah and Muhammad Amirul Amin.