THE Palestinian stowaway who flew from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore hidden in the wheel well of a Singapore Airlines passenger plane will be deported.
Osama R.M. Shublaq, 27, shocked the ground crew who were waiting to serve the Boeing 777-200 plane, which had just landed after a flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the evening of Oct 11.
The following day, he was charged in court with entering Singapore without a valid pass or permit.
On Thursday, police prosecutor Leow Teck Wee applied to withdraw the charge against him, after consulting the Attorney-General's Chambers on the facts and circumstances of the case.
Inspector Leow said the man would be referred to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and deported.
'He will be sent back to Kuala Lumpur, which was his last port of embarkation,' he said.
Osama was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal by District Judge Danielle Yeow. Arrangements are being made to send him back to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night.
Had he been convicted, he could have been jailed up to six months and ordered to be given not less than three strokes of the cane.
The stowaway probably survived the journey because the plane was only in the air for around 35 minutes, said pilots.
Malaysia's Transport Ministry has ordered a full probe into how he managed to slip into the SIA nose wheel well at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
