Store manager who was charged with drug possession gets bail following landmark case

KOTA KINABALU: A second person, who was charged with drug possession, has been granted bail pending trial in June, this year.

Lawyer Datuk Seri K. Rakhbir Singh said that Kota Kinabalu Sessions judge Azreena Aziz on Friday (March 24) granted bail for 28-year-old convenience store manager Muhammad Nur Ezannee Mokmin Ezannee.

The judge allowed bail of RM5,000 with one local surety and ordered his passport surrendered to the court. He was ordered to report twice a month to the Beaufort police station.

Ezannee was arrested at a car park in Kg Mempagar in Beaufort district for allegedly trafficking drugs at about 2.40pm on July 22, 2022.

After his arrest, Ezannee was denied bail and jailed at the Kepayan state prison here pending his trial scheduled for June 26-27 this year.

According to Rakbir, Ezanee was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 for possessing 63.68g of cannabis, which carries the enhanced penalty under Section 39A (2) of the Act.

If found guilty, the accused could face between five years jail and life imprisonment, as well a minimum of 10 strokes of the cane.

Rakhbir said in court that Section 41B of the Act (that does not allow for bail) did not apply to someone charged with a Section 6 offence although faced with an enhanced penalty under Section 39A(2).

Rakhbir urged the Sessions judge to apply an earlier landmark decision that those charged under section 6 of the DDA1952 could be granted bail.

On Wednesday (March 22), Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Justice Christopher Chin Soo Yin upheld a Sessions Court decision to grant bail after the prosecution sought a review on the bail granted.

Justice Chin's decision to allow those charged under Section 6 of the DDA 1952 is widely seen as a landmark case to allow bail as previously, accused were not granted bail pending their case hearing.