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Published: Wednesday November 24, 2010 MYT 7:19:00 PM

Indian national sentenced to death for ketamine

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang High Court here sentenced an Indian national to death and another to jail and a fine after they were found guilty of trafficking in ketamine. Habeeb Nashtar Abdul Mutalif, 51, who worked at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, was found guilty of trafficking in 12kg of ketamine and was sentenced on Wednesday to death, while factory worker M. Sathianarayanan, 44, was given five years' jail and fined RM100,000 for possessing 11kg of ketamine.

Habeeb Nashtar, who was represented by V. Jeevaratnam, was charged with committing the offence at the Special Passenger-Check Unit at the arrival hall of the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas about 10.50pm on March 19, last year. Judicial Commissioner Nurmala Salim, in her decision, said the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case.

Nurmala also questioned the need for the accused to go on a mission trip to New Delhi, India, noting that it was not reasonable to spend close to RM2,500 just to go and preach in India when he could do so in this country. "The accused did not know who would be receiving the goods when he arrived in Penang. He did not have any telephone number or the name of the person or coffeeshop supposedly meant to receive the goods. He should have known," she said.

She also dismissed the defence's contention that the accused was an innocent carrier, saying it could not be accepted. Meanwhile in the same court, Sathianarayanan, who was charged with trafficking in 11kg of ketamine at the airport's arrival hall on March 10, last year, received the maximum jail sentence and fine, under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

Sathianarayanan, who was represented by N. Selvarani, had initially been charged with drug trafficking, but pleaded guilty when the alternative charge was read to him in Tamil in the case that had been fixed for hearing Wednesday. Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Ariffin Hisham prosecuted in both cases. - Bernama