Malaysian, four Indian nationals sentenced to death for drug trafficking

SHAH ALAM: A Malaysian and four Indian nationals were sent to the gallows by the Shah Alam High Court on Wednesday (Jan 17) for drug trafficking.

Malaysian A. Sargunan, 42, and Indian nationals Sumesh Sudhakaran, Alex Aby Jacob Alexander, Renjith Raveendran and Sajith Sadanandan had faced two charges under Section 39B (1)(a) Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

They were found guilty of trafficking 4,252.7 grams of methamphetamine on July 26, 2013 in a house in Sungai Lalang, Semenyih.

The five men were also found guilty of trafficking 1,506.9 grams of ketamine on the same day and at the same time.

The five Indian nationals from Kerala had been employed as cleaners and Sargunan, who was a taxi driver, was engaged on a part-time basis to transport them from their accommodation to their workplace daily.

In their defence, Sargunan said his duty was just to transport the workers and the four Indians said they were merely cleaners who worked on two three-hour shifts at the premises.

In delivering the sentence, Justice Datuk Ghazali Cha said the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, that the men were aware the premises were used to process drugs.

Other incriminating circumstantial evidence were the discovery of Sargunan's shirt and towel as well as some of the accused's toothbrushes in the premises, which indicated that they had spent long hours there.

Initially, there were seven arrests but two of them - Malaysian R. Nagarajan and Indian national Shajahan Thasthagir - were acquitted at the early stages of the trial which started on March 1, 2016.

Datuk N. Sivananthan and Low Huey Theng defended Sargunan while Jayarubbiny Jayaraj defended the other four men. DPP Deepa Nair Thevaharan prosecuted.