Butcher caught again for drink driving while disqualified

29-year old Mohamed Hanif Hamzah had served his time in jail for drink driving, and driving illegally after being disqualified.

The butcher was caught repeating his deeds - driving under the influence of alcohol and while serving his ban, and was sentenced to 10 months in jail and disqualified from driving for eight years.

The Straits Times reported that Deputy Public Prosecutor Daphne Lim, in her argument for a stiff sentence, said that Mohamed Hanif displayed a "cavalier and blatant disregard for the law".

The judge also sentenced Hanif to an additional three months jail term for smuggling cigarettes from Malaysia in a car, which his father was driving. The local papers reported that he did so to repay his debts with an Internet football-betting syndicate in Malaysia. His father was only made known to the smuggled goods when they were caught at the Woodlands Checkpoint by immigration officers.

He could have been fined for to $168,960 and jailed for up to three years for his smuggling offence. As an repeated offender, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years for drink driving and driving while under ban.