A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh dismissed the appeals brought by Zali Saad, 46; Tengku Mohd Bashah Tengku Husin, 34; Adi Bastian Bustami, 50; and Mohd Yusof Husin, 40.

Wan Farid, who sat with Federal Court Justices Lee Swee Seng and Collin Lawrence Sequerah, ordered the men to serve their sentences from the date of their arrest on Jan 26, 2023.

The four had pleaded guilty in the Shah Alam High Court on June 11, 2024, to smuggling the migrants aboard an unregistered fibreglass boat about 3.4 nautical miles off Tanjung Rhu, Sepang, at 10.30pm on Jan 26, 2023. Each was sentenced to eight years in prison.

They appealed to the Court of Appeal, seeking reduced sentences, but a three-judge bench dismissed their appeals on Jan 3, 2025, prompting the men to escalate their case to the Federal Court.

The facts of the case revealed that personnel from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, who were conducting operations in the Straits of Melaka and off Negeri Sembilan, discovered the four men, together with three Myanmar nationals and 26 Indonesians, attempting to enter Malaysia illegally.

During today’s hearing, their counsel Collin Arvind Andrew requested that their sentences be reduced to seven years each.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob argued that both the High Court and Court of Appeal did not err in their decisions.