The court established that possession of controlled substances triggers a presumption of trafficking, requiring the accused to rebut this presumption under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

[1] The accused, Muhammad Ahmad is charged for trafficking in dangerous drugs under s 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 ("DDA") and punishable under s 39B(2) of the same. The trafficking charge against the accused reads as follows:

The Charge

"Bahawa kamu, pada 8 haribulan Ogos 2023, jam lebih kurang 10.10 pagi bertempat di kawasan Jeti Awam Pelabuhan Tawau, di dalam daerah Tawau, di dalam Negeri Sabah. telah mengedar dadah berbahaya iaitu Methamphetamine seberat 4,834.1 gram dan dengan itu kamu telah melakukan satu kesalahan di bawah s 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 yang boleh dihukum di bawah s 39B(2) Akta yang sama."

Case For The Prosecution

[2] The prosecution called a total of 5 witnesses. The evidence led by the crucial witnesses may be summarised as follows.

[3] On the 8 August 2023 at about 10.10am, ASP Jafri bin Abdul Hamid (PW1) who was the Officer in charge of Balai Polis Tawau, together with a team of police officers consisting of S/Insp Amran, Sjn Jeffree, Kpl Razali, Kpl Mazlan and Kpl Kamarul were conducting a routine and daily work of monitoring and random checking at Jeti Awam Pelabuhan Tawau.

[4] While carrying out their duty, ASP Jafri (PW1) and his team spotted a man who was acting suspiciously carrying a white sack (P6) labelled "Ambo Dino".

[5] ASP Jafri (PW1) then approached the said man and introduced himself as police officer by showing him his authority card while at the same time informed the said man that they wanted to check the white sack (P6) that he was carrying.

[6] PW1 subsequently issued a cautionary warning to the man under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 , inquiring whether he was carrying any illegal items The man remained silent, and PW1 proceeded to examine the white plastic sack.

[7] Upon inspection, PW1 found inside the white plastic sack 1 green sack which contained 1 white paint barrels with blue lids labelled "Nasa" on them. Inside the white paint barrels were 2 packets of wheat flour of Murai brand and 7 transparent plastic packets, which contained 7 green plastic packages labelled "Guanyinwang".

[8] A further inspection of the 7 green plastic packages labelled "Guanyinwang" were found 1 transparent plastic packages labelled "VERY GOOD" which contained crystalline substances suspected to be syabu.

[9] The suspect who was later identified as Muhammad Ahmad, 22 years old Indonesian national, passport number: E2851529, the accused in this case was then arrested and together with the exhibits seized, was brought to Ibupejabat Polis Bahagian Narcotic, Tawau where a search list (P13) and a police report Tawau/010772/23 dated 8 August 2023 (P4)(1-2) was lodged by PW1.

[10] The suspected drugs and other seized items were then initialled individually and dated by PW1 before he handed them over to the Investigating Officer, Inspector Mohd Shafiq bin Abdul Rahman (PW5) who too initialled the same.

[11] The suspected drugs seized were sent to the Chemistry Department at Kota Kinabalu in a box marked "MSAR" on the 28 August 2023 for analysis by PW5 and a receipt was issued by PW3 acknowledging the same. Upon analysis by the Government Chemist, Puan Rita Tie Ung Ha (PW3), it was confirmed that the substances in the plastic packets marked "M1-1-3(2)" until "M1-1-9(2)" contained Methamphetamine weighing 4834.1 grams Methamphetamine is listed in the 1st Schedule of the Act. She recorded her findings in her chemist report (P20).

[12] On the 8 December