In the present case, Kang Ho Soh (Kang) was charged with trafficking in 1,915.05g of heroin under s 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (the Act). Bearing in mind that possession of 15g is enough to presume trafficking there was enough to put 127 people in jeopardy of their lives if the stuff was distributed equally amongst them. The gross weight of the subject matter of the charge was 2,247.09g. We are therefore concerned with a substance of over 85% purity. The cash value of this must have been very considerable, considering that 534g of heroin in 1980 had a street value of $ 1.2m. (See PP v Saubin Beatrice ).

In a nutshell, the prosecution case against Kang was that on 4 March 1989, Kang was driving a BMW car No WAA 5159 at the 12th kilometre Kuala Lumpur - Rawang Highway. Acting on information received, Insp Maanor bin Yusof (PW2), assisted by five policemen, had set up a road-block and stopped the car. When the boot was opened a big red shopping bag (exh P34) was seen within. Inside the bag were found two large white transparent plastic bags, containing a white powder (exh P35 and exh P36) and five smaller packages (exhs P35 to P41) totally enclosed in opaque yellow scotch tape. These five smaller packages contained the heroin which is the subject matter of the charge.

At the close of the prosecution case I called upon Kang to enter upon his defence. I did so because despite some infirmities therein, I found that the prosecution had made out a case against the accused which if unrebutted would have warranted his conviction. I now give my reasons for the rulings which I made up to that point.

The defence objected to the admissibility of everything Kang said to PW2 from the time he was stopped at the road-block on the ground that as from that moment he should be treated as if he was under arrest. A trial-within-a-trial was held to determine this issue. (See Lim Seng Chuan v PP ).

PW2 said that he was acting on information which he had received the previous night. On arrival at the roadblock the car was stopped. Then PW2 identified himself and ordered Kang to come out of the car. Kang opened the door. He asked, Apa salah saya? PW2 replied that he wanted Kang to come out of the car because he wanted to examine the contents of the boot. Kang clung on to the steering wheel and refused to come out. A struggle then took place. PW2 and Constable Ahmad bin Haji Din (PW3) forcibly pulled Kang out of the car. In the course of this struggle Kang received an injury to his head which started to bleed. PW2 then said that he (PW2) took out the car keys and handed it to Kang who walked to the back of the car and opened the boot. Inside, PW2 saw the big red bag (exh P34) but not its contents, as the mouth of the bag was facing inwards. He asked Kang whose bag it was. Kang allegedly spontaneously replied, Saya punya. Then Kang was made to sit in the back of the car between PW3 and Detective Corporal Azami. PW2 then himself drove the car further on the dual carriageway, made a U-turn and brought the car back to a place nearby opposite the roadblock.

Here it was parked on the verge and the party got out. Once again PW2 gave the keys to Kang and asked him to open the boot. Kang did so. Then PW2 asked Kang to take out the contents of the bag (exh P34) one by one. There were two big transparent plastic bags containing a white powder (exhs P35 and P36) and the five smaller packets (exhs P37 to P41). PW2 asked Kang several times what these contained. This time after some hesitation, Kang is alleged to have said that the two white bags contained caffeine, and the five packets contained heroin base.

I would pause at this stage to observe that at no stage of PW2s evidence-in-chief up to this point was there anything said about any struggle. That evidence came out in cross-examination when he was confronted by defence counsel with a police report (referred to as the arrest report) which PW2 made around 4.25pm that a