High Court clears trio of 73kg meth trafficking charges

SHAH ALAM: The High Court today acquitted three men of trafficking 73.7 kilogrammes of methamphetamine nearly five years ago.

Judge Dr Wendy Ooi Su Ghee freed odd job labourers Muhammad Amiruddin Abd Hadi, 30, Muhammad Faiz Ahmad, 36, and parcel delivery worker V. Vijandran Nair, 35, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against them.

The trio had been jointly charged with trafficking 73.708.4g of methamphetamine at around 3pm near a house in Taman Batu Caves, Gombak on Aug 6, 2021.

The charge, framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act punishable under Section 39B(2) read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, carries the death penalty or life imprisonment upon conviction.

In her decision, Ooi highlighted serious weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, noting discrepancies in witness testimonies, particularly regarding the identification of exhibits and the number of boxes of drugs seized.

The court also took note of the police’s failure to produce photographs taken at the time of the seizure, as well as their failure to submit the original closed circuit television camera recordings (CCTV), despite these having been requested by the forensic team.

Instead, it presented an edited CCTV footage. In addition, the court found that the prosecution failed to call important and material witnesses and that the investigating officer failed to investigate the evidence provided by the accused. The court found the lapses had undermined the overall credibility of the prosecution’s case and prejudiced the defence of the accused.

The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Ainul Mardiyah Mohd Ali. Amiruddin was represented by defence lawyer Nik Saiful Adli Burhan, Muhamad Asri Abdul Hamid and Md Yusuf Md Idris while Vijandran was represented by Zulkifli Awang dan Mohd Ruzaini Zulkifli.

Faiz was represented by Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent.