Exclusive possession and control of a location where drugs are found can establish knowledge and intent to traffick, thus supporting a conviction under drug trafficking laws.

Background

[1] The accused was charged under s 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (the "DDA") with 1 count of drug trafficking involving 4 different types of dangerous drugs, as listed in the First Schedule of the , namely, 12,915.17 grammes of ketamine, 20.51 grammes of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 47.8 grammes of methamphetamine and 0.35 grammes of Methylenedioxy-amphetamine (MDA).

[2] The accused was alleged to have committed the offence on 25 October 2007, at about 2.00 p.m., at the address No: Y-16-13, Block Kayangan, D'aman Crimson Apartments, Jalan PJU 1A/41 Ara Jaya, in the district of Petaling, in the state of Selangor Darul Ehsan (the "condominium").

[3] The offence is punishable with the mandatory death sentence as provided in s 39B(2) of the DDA.

The Prosecution Case

[4] The prosecution called 12 witnesses to adduce oral and documentary evidence against the accused in order to establish a prima facie case against the accused.

[5] The 12 witnesses are as follows:

(1) PW1, ASP Norosid Bin Haji Mamat, the complainant, who took the accused and the police raiding party to the accused's rented condominium at the D'aman Crimson on 25 October 2007;

(2) PW2,Encik Ahmad Latfi Bin Mahamud, a government chemist, who analyzed the substances suspected to contain dangerous drugs;

(3) PW3, Corp Mohd Zaini Bin Che Mat, a police photographer, who, upon the instructions of PW12, took 10 photographs of the items which PW1 seized from the condominium, P13 (1-10), and 8 photographs of the scene of the crime, P11 (11-18);

(4) PW4, ASP Mohd Husni Bin Manaf, one of the raiding officers who participated in the raid on the accused's rented condominium and the recovery of the substances suspected to contain dangerous drugs;

(5) PW5, ASP Loi Yew Lik, the arresting officer who arrested the accused on 22 October 2007 at the Apartment Perdana Puri;

(6) PW6, Wee Teoh San, a civilian witness who is the owner of the accused's rented condominium where the dangerous drugs were recovered by the police raiding party;

(7) PW7, Ng Koh Long @ Wu Kaw Loong , a civilian witness, who was the middle man who arranged for the letting out of PW6's condominium to the accused with the assistance of PW8;

(8) PW8, Yap Su Fatt, a civilian witness, who had let out the condominium to the accused;

(9) PW9, Yong Kwai Fatt, a civilian witness, who was the building manager of the D'aman Crimson at the material time;

(10) PW10, Insp. Wayandiana Bin Abdullah, the investigating officer of the earlier case in which PW5 had arrested the accused;

(11) PW11, ACP Nordin Bin Kadir, the head of the Department of Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, at the Selangor Police Contingent Headquarters; and

(12) PW12, C/Insp Azizan Bin Ganti, the Investigating Officer of this case (the "I.O.").

[6] The prosecution case can be summarized as follows:

[7] On 22 October 2007, at about 8.00 p.m., a police party laid an ambush outside an apartment. The police party was headed by PW5. It comprised PW5, PW1 and 11 other police personnel. The apartment was situated at K-10-3, Apartment Perdana Puri, Jalan Puri, Desa Aman Puri, Kepong, Selangor (the "apartment").

[8] At 8.15 p.m. PW5 saw a woman coming out of the apartment. PW5 introduced himself to the woman as a police officer. She then took PW5 to the apartment. PW5 entered the apartment. He searched the apartment but he did not find any contraband.

[9] At 10.00 p.m., PW5 heard knocking on the front door of the apartment. He opened the door and saw a male Chinese standing outside the grill door of the apartment. He saw the male Chinese carrying a black coloured sling bag. He identified the accused in the dock as the male Chinese.

[10] PW5 introduced himself as a