MIRI: A former offshore worker accused of trafficking the largest drug haul at Miri Airport escaped the gallows when he was ordered to be released unconditionally by the High Court here yesterday.
Leslie Spencer Story, 23, from Taman Jelita, Off Taman Tunku, was released without his defence being called for an alleged offence of trafficking methamphetamine (syabu) weighing 15,388.49 grammes on Dec 4, 2014.
High Court judge Datuk Mairin Idang made the ruling after finding that the prosecutor failed to make a prima facie case against the accused.
Mairin said the prosecutor failed to prove that the six bags containing the drugs belonged to the accused.
Additionally, the bags had been scanned before being handed over by individuals for check-in at the passengers’ registration counter.
The suspect too was unaware of the contents and didn’t have the keys to all six bags including one belonging to him as the keys were held by a person whom the suspect called ‘boss’.
Mairin added that the suspect’s ticket for the flight was bought by an individual and the check-in was done earlier by an individual at one of the check-in kiosks in the airport.
Results also didn’t show any thumb print of the accused on all 111 packets of drugs found in the six bags.
“The police too didn’t make any effort to catch five other individuals who owned the bags to ascertain the real drug traffickers although there were records of their names and addresses with the airline company (of the plane) they were supposed to board that day when the incident occurred,” he said.
Leslie was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1952 and punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same act which provides for a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at 10.40am on Dec 4, 2014 in Miri Airport.
The deputy prosecutor was Musli Abdul Hamid while the defendant was represented by Shikh Rajjish Ahmad.
Family members of the accused who were present at the court since 2pm rejoiced when they heard of the ruling.