Possession of large quantities of narcotics necessitates severe penalties reflecting public interest, mitigating factors must be weighed accordingly.

Augustine Paul J:

Tia Ah Leng ("the accused") was originally charged with trafficking in 13,749.8 grammes of heroin under s. 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 ("the Act") and punishable under s. 39B(2) of the Act. At the close of the case for the defence the charge was amended to one under s. 12(2) of the Act in respect of the same amount of heroin and punishable under s. 39A(2) of the Act. The prescribed punishment under the latter section is imprisonment for life or for a term which shall not be less than five years and whipping of not less than ten strokes. The accused pleaded guilty to the amended charge and understood the nature and consequences of his plea.

Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the wife of the accused, Lew Sin Kiow, was the owner of premises number 39, Jalan Hujan Emas, OUG, Kuala Lumpur ("house No 39"). She stayed at premises number 41, Jalan Hujan Emas, OUG, Kuala Lumpur ("house No 41") with her family. On 25 March 1997 she entered into a sale and purchase agreement with one Chan Poh Lan for the sale of house No 39 to the latter. Chan Poh Lan took the keys to house No 39 from Lew Sin Kiow to carry out some renovation works and returned the keys after the completion of the works as the full purchase price had not been paid yet. On 20 August 1997 Chan Poh Lan obtained the keys from her solicitors. Prior to this the accused had purchased a motor car from one Aw Ka Theam between the end of 1995 and early 1996. The motor vehicle was a BMW with registration number WCV 2088. Aw Ka Theam gave the accused the registration card (exh. P8) of the car, a signed Form K3 which is the transfer form for the car and a photostat copy of his identity card. He believed that with these documents the accused would effect the transfer of ownership of the car into his own name. However, exh. P8 reveals that it has still not been done. In cross-examination Aw Ka Theam disagreed that he had never sold the car to the accused.

On 1 June 1997 assistant superintendent of Police Perumal s/o Alagan was attached to the narcotics department of the police headquarters. Upon receipt of information relating to drug activities involving two houses and a car in Jalan Hujan Emas, Taman OUG, Jalan Kelang Lama, Kuala

Lumpur he gave a briefing to his officers on that day at 8.00 p.m. The officers involved were ASP Mohd Rodzi bin Rejab, Det/Sjn Haji Kassim, Det/Cpl Abdul Malik bin Jaafar, Det/Cpl Othman bin Baba, Det/Cpl Khalid bin Hassan, Det/Cpl Palaniandy s/o Muniandy, Det L/Cpl Badrin bin Majid, Det L/Cpl Rahim bin Kiran and Det L/Cpl Zaini bin Hussein. He divided the officers into three groups. The first group consisting of Det/Cpl Palaniandy and Det L/Cpl Zaini was headed by him; the second group consisting of Det/Cpl Khalid and Det L/Cpl Badrin was headed by ASP Mohd Rodzi and the third group consisting of Det/Cpl Abdul Malik, Det/ Cpl Othman and Det L/Cpl Rahim was headed by Det/Sjn Haji Kassim. At about 9.00 p.m. on that day the three groups arrived at the scene and identified the houses. After an observation carried out for about 15 - 20 minutes ASP Perumal found that house No 39 and house No 41 were double storey semi-detached houses. Attached to house No 39 was premises No 37. He noticed that the upstairs of house No 39 was dark while its ground floor had lights. Parked at the porch of house No 39 was motor car No WCV 2088. The gate of the house was closed. House No 41 was bright as it had lights. Two cars were parked at this house. They were motor car numbers WBD 22 and WCX 3015. The gate to the house was closed. ASP Perumal noticed movement of people in the front portion of the house. He then instructed his officers to take up their respective positions. His group was to go into house No 41 while ASP Mohd Rodzi's group was to go into house No 39. Det/Cpl Abdul Malik and Det L/Cpl Rahim were to do guard duty in front of premises No 43 while Det/Sjn Haji Kassim and Det/Cpl Othman were to do guard duty at t