MALAYSIA: INDIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING DRUGS

January 5, 2011: A 27-year-old Indian was sentenced to death by a Malaysian court on charges of trafficking a party drug into the country. Judicial Commissioner Siti Khadijah Sheikh Hassan Badjenid ruled that the prosecution had successfully proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt against pirated CD pedlar Najmudeen Abdul Kader.
Najmudeen was charged with trafficking over four kilogrammes of ketamine at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on August 8, 2008.
When Najmudeen was stopped by the Customs officers they found 47 boxes of joss sticks. When they peeled the joss sticks' wrapping, the customs officers found white crystals of ketamine, a club drug.
He was charged under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and sentenced under Section 39 B (2) of the same act which provided for the mandatory death sentence, Bernama news agency said.
Najmudeen, who was represented by Sreekant Pillai, claimed that he did not know the contents of the bag as he was just ordered by his employer to deliver it to someone in Malaysia.
However, the judicial commissioner rejected his defence saying that it was illogical as Najmudeen knew the combination to the bag and had opened it himself. (Sources: Hindustantimes.com, 05/01/2011)