Khairul Bashar, a Bangladeshi male, charged with six counts of trafficking in persons under Section 4 of the Trafficking and Smuggling of Persons Order, 2004 was sentenced to a total of 7 years and 6 months imprisonment, a fine of $120,000 (in default 60 months imprisonment) and 12 strokes on 2nd October 2025. The Defendant had been convicted following his guilty plea entered during the course of trial. He had admitted to having recruited six male Bangladesh nationals between 1st January 2018 and 30th March 2019 through deception for the purposes of exploitation through forced labour in Brunei Darussalam. The prescribed penalty for such an offence is fine not exceeding one million dollars, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping.

In handing down his sentencing, The Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court remarked that the presence of multiple victims greatly increases the seriousness of the offence as it demonstrates that the Defendant's conduct was not opportunistic or confined to a single act, but a sustained pattern of exploitation that preyed upon a group of vulnerable men. The Court considered as a grave aggravating factor the significant hardship endured by the victims, stemming from the Defendant's deceptive assurances of lucrative employment in Brunei Darussalam. The victims had been compelled to meet the financial demands.

The defendant, during the recruitment phase, only to face unemployment or underemployment marked by low and irregular wages, trapped in conditions of dependency with their passports confiscated and subjected to threats of repatriation should they fail to make monthly payments to the Defendant. The Court further highlighted that the offence of trafficking in persons constitutes a grave and heinous violation of human rights, subjecting victims to the absolute control of traffickers, stripping them of personal autonomy and reducing them to mere instruments of exploitation.