KOTA KINABALU: A man yesterday denied at the Magistrate’s Court here to a charge of consuming syabu.
Liew En Choi, who appeared before magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie, was charged under Section 15 (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39C (1)(d) of the same Act with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but shall not exceed seven years, and shall also be punished with whipping of not more than three strokes, upon conviction.
Liew, who had been convicted with three counts of a similar offence, was arrested at the Karamunsing police station at 2.55 am on June 5 this year.
The magistrate then fixed August 4 this year for his case management and released Liew, who was unrepresented, on RM4,000 bail with two local sureties, pending his chemist’s report.
Meanwhile, the same court sentenced two men to four months’ jail each, and fined a woman RM1,800, in default, four months’ imprisonment for committing a similar offence.
The magistrate meted the sentences on Salleh Abdullah, Mohd Nasir and Maslina Yabut after they all pleaded guilty to separate charges under Section 15 (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which provides, on conviction, for a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
The court ordered the men to be referred to the Immigration Department after serving their jail sentences for further action.
In a separate case, 16 foreigners, including three women, were jailed for between two and four months by the Sessions Court here for entering the State illegally.
All of the accused persons pleaded guilty before judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamed to separate charges under Section 6 (1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, which carries a jail term of up to five years or a maximum fine of RM10,000, or both, and whipping upon conviction.
The accused persons, aged between 17 and 51 years, who had worked either as contract worker or labourer, were arrested during recent operations.
The judge ordered for the men to be whipped once while others were spared due to their gender and age. All the accused were ordered to be referred to the Immigration Department after serving their jail sentences.