Indonesian gets 12 years, whipping for having syabu

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Abdullah (middle) being led out of the High Court after the sentencing yesterday.

TAWAU: A 21-year-old Indonesian man was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and ten strokes of the cane by the High Court here yesterday for possession of 2,331.40 grams of syabu.

High Court judge Chew Soo Ho meted out the sentence on Abdullah bin Borhan who was charged under Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drug Act which provides imprisonment of not less than five years, but not more than 30 years, and not less than ten strokes, and not more than 24 strokes of the cane.

Abdullah was accused of committing the offence about 60 meters from the Sabindo sea around 12.05pm on August 14.

Deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah yesterday told the court that a marine boat on routine surveillance alongside the Sabindo coastal area saw a suspicious character (the accused) with a bag pack on his back, getting into one of the boats at the coast. The boat then ferried the accused from the coastal area.

The marine approached the boat and instructed the accused to get on board the marine boat for a random check. A body check was done and nothing was found on him. When the bag was inspected, three packages were found in it. One of the packages was torn open and there were 20 packages containing crystal substance suspected to be syabu.

The packages were repacked and the accused was brought back to the marine base where the other two packages were opened and revealed 20 packages each containing crystal substance suspected to be syabu.

The suspected syabu was sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis and the chemist report confirmed the substances were methamphetamine weighing 2,331.4 grams.