BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Eight foreign nationals were sentenced two years in prison in Brunei for smuggling activities and lying in a boat collision earlier this month that killed one and left one missing.
According to a report of local daily the Borneo Bulletin on Thursday, a public prosecutor's charges against the eight defendants of Malaysian and Filipino nationality stated that they were involved in the smuggling of boxes containing alcoholic beverages on Dec. 5, and had given false information to the marine police on Dec. 6.
After the two speed boats clashed on a river in Brunei, the eight defendants on the boats were thrown into the waters, and were rescued by a passing ferry. The defendants later lied to the marine police, saying that they were delivering fish for sale in Limbang, Malaysia.
The Marine Police then gathered evidence which matched the rescuers' descriptions of a number of cartons containing alcohol drifting around the accident scene. This led to suspicions of the eight defendants being involved in smuggling activities, the local daily reported.
