THREE PERUVIANS JAILED 18 MONTHS EACH FOR MAKING ILLEGAL ATM WITHDRAWALS

KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- The Sessions Court here
Thursday sentenced three men from Peru to 18 months jail each for making illegal
Auto-Teller Machine (ATM) withdrawals totalling RM3,500 (US$983.60) from the
account of a local woman in September, 2009.

Judge M.Bakri Abdul Majid ordered the sentences to run from the date of
their arrest on Sept 19, 2009.

M Bakri said the court took into consideration the guilt plea entered by the
three accused, Sosaya Carrasco Jose Wilfredo, 58, Nicanor Edgar Areche Aquipa,
45 and Henry Fernando Carrascal Carlin, 45, in imposing the punishment as it had
saved the court's time.

The trio had been charged with making illegal ATM withrawals totalling
RM3,500 at Maybank Bhd, Jerteh, Besut, from an account belonging to Ma Kalthum
Salleh, 38, between 11am and noon on Sept 19, 2009.

They were charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 read
together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

For this hearing, the court had appointed an interpreter, Norazrin Zakaria
from National Translation Institute, as the three accused could only speak
Spanish.

According to the facts of the case, while the victim was making a withdrawal
from the ATM machine, an unknown man tapped her on her shoulder and pointed to
several ringgit notes lying on the floor where the machine was located.

She then bent down to collect the notes but when she completed the
transaction, found the card dispensed by the machine to be different from her's.

When she checked with the bank, it was found RM3,500 had been withrawn from
her account without her authorisation before the bank blocked the card.

Police zeroed in on the trio based on footage obtained from the CCTV system
installed at the premises.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Izalina Abdullah appeared for the prosecution. The
accused were represented by counsel Mohd Shamril Afzan Mohamed Hasim who was
acting for the Peruvian Embassy.

Meanwhile, in a separate court, one of the accused, Henry Fernando Carrascal
Carlin, received a further six months jail because the security stamp on his
passport was a fake, an offence under Section 4 of the Computer Crimes Act 1997.

Special Court for Illegal Immigrants judge Azman Mustapha ordered the
sentence to also run from the date of his arrest (Sept 19).
-- BERNAMA