On August 12, 2021, Xu Yixuan, a 26-year-old Singapore citizen, was sentenced to seven months in jail for harbouring an immigration criminal. During the sentence, a second charge of harbouring another immigration criminal was considered.
Vice
Two female PRC nationals, Huang Huoying and He Lei, were found to be participating in vice activities in a residential unit in Tampines during a combined operation by the Police and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on 4 November 2019.
Both of them had overstayed their visas in Singapore.
On March 24, 2020, the ICA performed additional inspections on the unit’s principal renter and arrested Xu. Xu signed the tenancy agreement for the residential unit sometime in October 2019, according to investigations. On October 27, 2019, he rented the flat to Huang and He for rental rates of $110 and $120 per day, respectively. Xu continued to live in Woodlands in his own home.
Xu had committed an offence of harbouring immigration criminals under the Immigration Act by failing to verify that the PRC nationals’ immigration permits were valid at the time when he rented the apartment to them. Both Huang and He have received warnings for their overstaying offences since then.
Punishments