IPOH, June 25 — Three men were acquitted and discharged by the High Court today of a drug trafficking charge involving 1.14 kg of cannabis six years ago.
Judge Datuk Bhupindar Singh Gucharan Singh Preet ruled that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused — Mohd Nazreen Hazim Abdullah Satar, 35, Mohd Suhaimi Ahmad, 42, and Muhammad Shafiq Shamsuddin, 38.
“As such, all three are acquitted and discharged,” he said.
Judge Bhupindar added that the prosecution was unable to prove key elements of the charge, including the identity of the drugs and discrepancies in their weight, with a significant variance of about 90g.
The trio had been jointly charged with trafficking the cannabis at a house on Laluan Pinji Seni 4, Taman Pinji Seni, around 7.45pm on November 17, 2019.
The charge, framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act.
Upon conviction, it carries either the death penalty or life imprisonment, along with at least 12 strokes of the cane if not sentenced to death.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Khazrin Haffiz Khalil led the prosecution. Nazreen was represented by Ranjit Singh Sandhu, Suhaimi by Charan Singh a/l Kartar Singh, and Shafiq by V. Santhiran.
— Bernama