Lamin Mohd Yunus PCA:

This is an appeal by the learned public prosecutor against the decision of the learned judge of the High Court at Shah Alam made on 13 August 1997 whereby at the end of the case for the prosecution the learned judge amended the two charges as preferred by the prosecution under s. 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 respectively to an offence under s. 21(6) of the said Act . He was sentenced to three years imprisonment which was to take effect from the date of arrest (26 November 1996) in respect of each charge. They were to run concurrently. The appeal is against the amendment of the charges and the sentences as imposed.

We began hearing this appeal on 13 July 1998 and continued on 21 July 1998 and on that day we dismissed the appeal against both the conviction and sentence.

For ease of reference throughout our judgment, we will refer to the respondent as the accused. The accused is a young Peruvian national named Jorge Enrique Pellon Tellon. He was on a flight from Buenos Aires to Den Pasar, Bali, Indonesia via Kuala Lumpur. He left Buenos Aires on 24 November 1996. This is borne out by his air ticket (P26) issued by Malaysia Airlines. He arr