(delivering the judgment of the court): This was an appeal by the appellant who was convicted by the High Court on 25 November 1987 on the following charge:

You, Lau Chi Sing, are charged that you, on or about the 16th day of October 1984, at between 7.30pm and 7.55pm, in Singapore, did traffic in a controlled drug specified in Class A of the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act, (Cap 185, 1985 Ed) to wit, by transporting 242.85 gm of diamorphine from Ghim Peng Hotel, Geylang Road to Singapore Changi Airport in NTUC taxi no SH 8477M, without any authorization under the said Act or the regulations made thereunder, and you have thereby committed an offence under s 5(a) and punishable under s 33 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 1985 Ed).

The appellant, a Hong Kong national, had arrived in Singapore, from Kuala Lumpur, on 15 October 1984 and had checked into Ghim Peng Hotel at Geylang Road. At about 7.30pm on the same day, he checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to Changi Airport. There he checked in for his flight to Amsterdam after which he was arrested by a senior narcotics officer.

The appellant had with him a radio cassette player powered by ten batte