Edgar Joseph Jr SCJ:

[1] The appellant, together with Johar bin Johan and Rahmat bin Sukairman, were jointly prosecuted in the High Court at Shah Alam upon the following charge:

That you, on 30 December 1988 at about 5.00 am., at house No 254, Jalan Jasa 25, Taman Jasa, Batu Caves, Selayang, in the District of Gombak, in the State of Selangor Darul Ehsan, were found in possession of a dangerous drug, that is, "cannabis", to wit, 31.19432 kg., and that you have accordingly committed an offence under s 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act No 30/ 52 punishable under s 39B(2) of the same Act. In the event, the appellant was convicted and sentenced to death but the two other accused persons were both acquitted and discharged. Against that conviction he had appealed.

[2] According to the evidence led by the prosecution, acting on information received, a team of ten detectives, led by Inspector Giam Kar Hoon ("Giam") raided a dwelling house known as 254, Jalan Jasa, Taman Jasa, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur ("the house"), on 30 December 1988 at about 5.00 am.

[3] On arrival at the house, they found that the front grill door was not locked though the front wooden door was.

[4] Inspector Giam knocked on the door and, at the same time, shouted, identifying himself, but no one opened the door, so one of his men - Detective Corporal Gulam ("Gulam") - kicked open the door.

[5] On entering the house, the police party found that it was in complete darkness, and lying on the floor in the hall, on mattresses still asleep, were the accused persons Johar and Rahmat. Giam noticed that the light in the master bedroom was switched on. Gulam then switched on the hall lights. The appellant then opened the front bedroom door and took a look. As he did so, Constable Zainal held the appellant and pulled him out. Giam walked into the room and found that no one was in it. He then came out and, on his instructions, the appellant was promptly handcuffed to the accused Johar while the accused Rahmat was handcuffed separately.

[6] It was at this point of time that Giam told the three accused persons that the house had been raided on suspicion that it was being used for trafficking in ganja.

[7] Whilst Constable Vijayan ("Vijayan") stood guard over the three accused persons, Giam administered the statutory caution under s 37A of the Dangerous Drugs Act in Bahasa Malaysia, to them. Each confirmed that he understood the statutory caution. Giam then obtained the personal particulars of the three accused persons. As he took down those particulars, Gulam called out saying the door to the second bedroom (bilik dua) was locked. Giam queried the three accused persons as to who slept in that bedroom but they made no reply.

[8] So, Giam knocked on the door of the second bedroom, at the same time asking whoever was inside to open the door, yet there was no reply. Giam then attempted to make a forcible entry by kicking the door open. Having failed with his first kick, he was preparing to give it a second kick when, he heard someone shout out - it might be thought, somewhat obligingly - "saya punya" ("it is mine"). Giam queried Vijayan as to who this was and Vijayan replied it was Hasi, that is to say, the appellant. Giam then asked the appellant for the key and the appellant went into the master bedroom, dragging Johan with him, took down what was described by the Judge as a "bunch of two keys" from a nail on the inside of the door to the master bedroom, which he handed to Giam who then used it to open the door to the second bedroom.

[9] Giam then entered the second bedroom and the three accused persons were taken into that room. It was dark, so Giam switched on the lights. He saw that next to the wall was a large travelling bag bearing the brand name "Elegeant", being Ex P24, with its zip open. On examining the bag, he found that it contained 15 slabs of compressed leaf material neatly wrapped in plastic with adhesive tape - 4 of these slabs being wrapped in Thai newspaper. He