Low Hop Bing J:

THE CHARGE

The charge, as amended, alleges that on 6 February 2002, at about 5.30pm in the compound of the Petronas Station Ayer Keroh Melaka (‘the Petronas station’), in the district of Melaka Tengah, in the state of Melaka, the accused was found to be trafficking in dangerous drug, to wit, cannabis weighing 1036.9g and that the accused had thereby committed an offence under s 39B(1)(a)Dangerous Drugs Act 1952

For brevity and convenience, a reference hereinafter to a section is a reference to that section in the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 unless the context otherwise requires.

MISSING WITNESS

Both the accused and one Azril had originally been charged with the same offence under s 39B, but the charge against Azril was subsequently withdrawn. Azril was to appear as a prosecution witness. However, Azril is now missing. Attempts by the investigating officer (‘SP8’) to trace him on 19 June 2003 and 23 July 2003 had proved futile. A final attempt to trace Azril in Kg Pantai Dalam Kuala Lumpur on 8 April 2003 was also unsuccessful. SP8 could not remember the dates on which efforts to trace him were published in the newspapers.

SP8 states that on 19 June 2003, he caused a subpoena