Man pleads guilty to having drugs, gets 24 months behind bars

SIBU: A 24-year-old man was sentenced to 24 months in jail by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday after he pleaded guilty to drug possession charge.

Magistrate Mohd Syukri Mokhtar also imposed three strokes of the cane on the accused, Steven Sung Kian Liong, who was charged under Section 12(2) of Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(1) of the same Act.

The Section also provides for a minimum two-year and maximum five-year jail, with whipping not less than three strokes but not more than nine strokes, upon conviction.

According to the charge sheet, Sung was found to have in his possession 17.11g of methamphetamine at a parking space near a shopping mall at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman here, around 11.30am on June 9 last year.

Personnel from the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department checked him inside a parked car for suspected involvement in drug activities.

They found three transparent plastic packages containing a crystalline substance, inside his bag.

Sung was then taken to Sibu Central police station for further action, while the substance was sent to the Department of Chemistry for analysis, which later confirmed it to be methamphetamine.