Woman is first person in Singapore given jail for keeping animals in captivity for sale

SINGAPORE - The wife of a man linked to a Cambodia-based scam syndicate has become the first person here to be given a jail sentence for keeping animals in captivity for sale at unlicensed premises.

Ng Siew Teng, 28, and her spouse Callurn Lim Yuan Jin, 34, were involved in a scheme to illegally import puppies from Malaysia for sale in Singapore.

On Aug 5, Ng was sentenced to 19 weeks and three days’ jail and a fine of $5,000 after pleading guilty to five charges under the Animals and Birds Act.

Lim was sentenced to one year, nine months, 21 weeks and three days’ jail and a fine of $12,000 on Sept 11.

He must spend another four weeks and 10 days behind bars if he cannot pay the fine.

He had pleaded guilty to multiple charges for various offences including two linked to the syndicate, and five under the same Act.

The couple’s accomplice, Bryan Peh Jia Hao, 22, was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail in January.

The National Parks Board (NParks) said in a statement on Sept 15 the married couple had abetted Peh to smuggle puppies from Malaysia to be sold in Singapore.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that Lim had approached Peh in October 2023. Lim asked him if he was interested in smuggling the puppies for $250 to $300 per animal.

Peh agreed and carried out several illegal importations for the couple that month.

Lim and Ng then kept the puppies in their home and advertised them on Instagram.

Between October and December 2023, they sold 21 puppies and earned around $21,000 in profits.

Their offences came to light on Dec 27, 2023, when Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers conducted a random inspection on Peh’s car at the Woodlands Checkpoint and uncovered five two-month-old Pomeranian puppies in the boot.

NParks found the puppies had been transported under cramped and poorly-ventilated conditions that subjected them to unnecessary suffering.

All five puppies later tested positive for canine parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that can cause severe illness and death in dogs.

NParks did not disclose details about the puppies’ current condition.

Separately, Lim was also a member of the Cambodia-based crime syndicate behind at least 528 scam cases involving over $52 million in losses between September 2024 and September 2025.

The group in Phnom Penh had conducted government official impersonation scams, targeting victims in Singapore.

Heaviest sentence given

In an unrelated case, Sundra Pandian, 33, who had kept 13 smuggled animals at his home, pleaded guilty to nine charges under the Animals and Birds Act, and was sentenced to 24 weeks’ jail on Aug 17.

NParks said in its statement this was the heaviest sentence meted out to date for keeping animals in captivity for sale at unlicensed premises.

Chow Chee Hoe, 25, who was linked to Sundra’s case, was fined $4,000 on Sept 1.

The authorities had earlier received a tip-off from a member of the public about the sale of illegally imported animals.

On Sept 26, 2025, officers from the Animal and Veterinary Service – a cluster under NParks – then arrested Chow for attempting to sell two smuggled dogs.

He had been using several premises as a pet shop to sell dogs on behalf of a transnational syndicate that smuggled animals from Thailand to Singapore.

He would collect these animals from Pandian before meeting prospective buyers.

Pandian acted as a runner for the syndicate, and kept the animals at home until buyers were found. The authorities seized 12 dogs of various breeds, including Pandian’s pet Rottweiler, and British Shorthair cats from him.

The animals were housed in cages and pet carriers stacked up to three levels high within a service yard for about two to three weeks at a time.

They were let out only for short periods for exercise or when the cages had to be cleaned.

Several of the animals were confined in conditions that restricted their movement, subjecting them to unnecessary suffering.

One dog tested positive for canine parvovirus, while some of the animals required veterinary treatment after showing signs of ill health.

NParks did not disclose details about these animals’ current condition.