Man gets 10 years’ jail, 10 strokes for drug possession
KUCHING: A self- employed man charged with drug trafficking was convicted on a lesser charge of drug possession by the High Court yesterday.
Justice Dato Yew Jen Kie sentenced Chin Lin Jan, 40, to a total of 10 years in prison and 10 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to possessing 294 grammes of methamphetamine.
Initially, Chin faced a charge under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug trafficking which provides a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
He later pleaded guilty to an alternative charge framed under Section 12( 3) of the same Act, punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act, that provides for life imprisonment or a minimum five years’ jail, and not less than 10 strokes of the cane.
He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of possessing 0.18 grammes of Erimin 5 and received a two-year prison sentence.
All the custodial sentences were ordered to run concurrently from the date of this arrest.
Chin was detained by a team of police from the state Narcotics Crime Investigation Department during a raid at a house in Batu Kawa New Township, near here on June 26 last year around 12.10am.
The court was told that the police team had to force open the locked main door to gain entry as the occupant had refused to allow them to enter the house even though they had identified themselves.
Three persons, including the accused, were found hiding behind a bathroom door inside the house.
The raiding team later discovered a paper bag containing several transparent plastic packets inside the store room along with a digital weighing scale.
DPP Musli Abdul Hamid prosecuted while counsels Shankar Ram and Daniel Ling represented Chin.