Malaysian, four Indian nationals to hang for drug trafficking

SHAH ALAM: A local man and four Indian nationals were sent to the gallows by the High Court here on Jan 17 after being found guilty on two counts of trafficking 5.8kg of drugs at a house which doubled as a drug processing laboratory five years ago.
Judge Datuk Ghazali Cha handed down the sentence to A. Sargunan, 42, and four Indian nationals, namely Sumesh Sudhakaran, 30, Alex Aby Jacob Alexander, 37, Renjith Raveendran, 28, and Sajith Sadanandan, 29, after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution's case.
A total of 13 prosecution witnesses and nine defence witnesses were called to testify in the trial which began on March 1, 2016.
All the men were convicted of trafficking in methamphetamine weighing 4.3kg and ketamine weighing 1.5kg at the house in Jalan Sungai Lalang, Semenyih, at around 9am on July 26, 2013.
They were charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
In his judgment, judge Ghazali said after hearing the argument from both sides, he found that there was an undisputed fact in the case, namely all the accused were at the scene when arrested.
In addition, he said another undisputed fact was that the premises was indeed used for processing drugs as the methamphetamine was found exposed on the table and the ketamine, under the staircase.
"Based on the evidence, the court also found that all DNA profiles taken at the scene had been linked to all the accused, such as towels, gloves and toothbrushes. which have been proven by the chemist.
"Apart from that, it also cannot be disputed that the premises was always locked and the doors shut tightly with all the accused working only at midnight and early mornings.
"Although the accused said that they were at the premises for cleaning work and had other work shifts, it was supported by other evidence," he said.
On Sargunan's defence that he worked as a taxi driver and happened to be at the scene, the judge found his testimony to be a mere fabrication as the man's DNA profile was found on towels and shirts found at the premises.
He also said that the evidence of all the four Indian nationals were unreliable as it contradicted their previous recorded statements.
"It is impossible that they do not know the house is a drug processing lab. They all had access to the items in the premises including the drugs.
"Since there is only one sentence provided for under Section 39B of the Act, the court hereby sentences all the accused to death," he said.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair Thevaharan while Sargunan was represented by lawyers Datuk N. Sivananthan and Low Huey Theng.
The four Indian nationals were represented by counsel Jayarubbiny Jayaraj. — Bernama