The prosecution must prove identity, weight, and possession of drugs to establish trafficking under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

The Charge

[1] The accused was charged for trafficking 129.40 grams of methamphetamine in front of an unnumbered house in Kampung Ranggu in Tawau pursuant to s 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 .

[2] The charge reads:

"That you, on the 11th of February 2021, at about 10.45am, located in front of an unnumbered house at Kampung Ranggu in the district of Tawau, in the state of Sabah, did on your own behalf traffic in a dangerous drug to wit 129.40 gram of Methamphetamine and that you have thereby committed an offence under s 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1952 (Act 234) and punishable under s 39B(2) of the same Act."

The Prosecution's Narrative

[3] The prosecution called 5 witnesses to prove its case.

[4] It called the chemist Rita Tie Ung Ha (PW1) to testify on the identity and weight of the drugs, and D/Kpl Mohd Nasyrah Assobah Bin Abd Wahab (PW2) to testify that he collected the chemist report and the envelope marked "MSAR" containing the drug exhibits.

[5] The other prosecution witnesses were D/Kpl Kartini Binti Selon who was the storekeeper at IPD Tawau (PW3), Insp Mohd Firdaus Bin Mohd Baharuddin, the arresting officer (PW4), and Insp Mohd Shafiq Bin Abdul Rahman, the investigation officer (PW5).

[6] PW4 testified that on 11 February 2021, at about 1045 in the morning, he and a team of 9 other police personnel had been observing the accused - who was astride a stationary blue/black Yamaha LC 150 motorcycle (with the licence plate SWB 4601) in the Kampung Ranggu area - for about 20 minutes. There was no one else in the vicinity.

[7] PW4 observed that the accused was acting suspiciously. He and his team then approached the accused. PW4 introduced himself as a police officer to the accused who tried to escape.

[8] A scuffle ensued, following which the accused was handcuffed.

[9] The accused sustained injuries to his right toe, under his lips, and on the right side of his face.

[10] PW4 carried out a body search on the accused which did not yield any drugs.

[11] However, on examining the dark blue Champion backpack (P10) which the accused had on him, PW4 found a pink plastic bag (P6) in which there were 4 transparent plastic packets - P6(a-d) - containing crystalline substances which were later confirmed to be syabu/methamphetamine by PW1.

[12] He also found in P10 a brown envelope (P11) containing a copy of the birth certificate of the accused, and a letter from Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Quoin dated 3 May 2003 confirming the accused as a student and his date of birth as 14 February 1979. These documents were marked as P12(a) and P12(b).

[13] PW4 then informed the accused that he was arrested on suspicion of having methamphetamine in P10. The accused and the case exhibits were taken to the office of the Bahagian Siasatan Jenayah Narkotik IPD Tawau. During the journey, the case exhibits were with PW4.

[14] On arrival at the office, PW4 made markings on the seized exhibits. In addition, he placed the date and his signature on them. He weighed the drug exhibits, and ascertained the gross weight to be 199.77 grams

[15] After all that had been done, PW4 handed over to PW5 the accused and the seized items as listed in WSPW4, para 9: the dark blue Champion knapsack with his marking 'MF,' 1 pink plastic bag with his marking 'MF1,' 4 transparent plastic packets with his marking 'MF2,' 'MF3,' 'MF4,' and 'MF5,' the brown envelope (marked 'MF6') containing a copy of the accused's birth certificate, the Yamaha motorcycle which he marked 'MF7,' and the key to the Yamaha motorcycle which he marked 'MF8.