Mohd Amin Firdaus Abdullah JC:

[1] The accused person, an Iranian national, now 27 years old, was charged with the following charge:

"Bahawa kamu pada 16 Februari 2011, lebih kurang 3.15 petang di Balai Ketibaan Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Pulau Pinang, di dalam daerah Barat Daya, di dalam Negeri Pulau Pinang, telah didapati mengedar dadah berbahaya iaitu methamphetamine, seberat 2751.7 gram dan dengan itu, kamu telah melakukan satu kesalahan di bawah s 39B(1) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 yang boleh dihukum di bawah s 39B(2) Akta yang sama."

Prosecution's Case

[2] The prosecution called a total of nine witnesses to present its case and its case unfolded when customs officer named Rose Syila bt Rodaei (PW4) gave evidence that on the 16 February 2011 she was on shift duty from 2.00pm to 10.00pm at the scanning machine in the Arrival Hall of the Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang.

[3] At 3.00pm a fair-skinned male passenger put his black bag on the scanning machine to be scanned and in the midst of scanning PW4 saw a suspicious image of green and chocolate colour. She then asked fellow customs officer Hazrir bin S Efendi (PW5) to check the bag and saw PW5 and this passenger subsequently identified as the accused in this case took out all the clothes from the black bag. When the bag was empty, PW5 requested PW4 to scan the bag again and despite being empty, the same image surfaced on the scanning machine screen.

[4] Both PW4 and PW5 then called their superior officers Rushaidi bin Ludin (PW6) and Tarmizi bin Johari and when both of them came, PW6 directed PW4 to scan for the third time the empty bag to confirm the suspicious image. The same image again surfaced on the screen after the third scanning. PW6 next asked the accused to put back all the clothes into the black bag and bring the bag into the examination room. After this PW4 resumed her routine duty and did not know what happened to the accused subsequently.

[5] PW5 gave evidence that on the 16 February 2011 he was on duty together with PW4 at the airport from 7.00am to 10.00pm and at 3.00pm that same day, his colleague PW4 enlisted his help to check the black bag (exh P12) of the accused after she saw a suspicious image appearing on the scanner screen. PW5 described the black bag as quite big with wheels and the brand name is "Eminent." PW5 then requested the accused to bring P12 to a nearby counter for examination and after the accused had put the bag (P12) on the counter, PW5 asked for his passport and directed him to open the bag.

[6] After looking at the passport, PW5 found out the name of the accused is Mojtaba Moktarighahi, a citizen from Iran. After the accused had opened the bag, PW5 together with the accused emptied out the clothes from the bag. PW5 found nothing inside the bag nevertheless he lifted up the bag and felt it was unusually heavy. He took the empty bag to be scanned for a second time and saw the same suspicious green image still appearing on the scanner screen and he asked PW4 to call their supervisors in order to inform them about the situation.

[7] After PW6 and Tarmizi bin Johari came to the scene, PW5 narrated to both of them about what had happened and he handed over the passport of the accused together with the black bag (P12) to PW6 for further action. After the handing over, PW5 continued with his normal duty and did not know what his supervisors did with P12 and the accused.

[8] PW6 testified that on the 16 February 2011 at about 3.00pm he was on duty in the green lane at the passengers arrival hall in the airport and at that time a flight from Singapore had landed. He observed a fair-skinned male passenger wearing a white shirt who was the last person and being the last passenger to arrive at the baggage section and he directed him to have his bag scanned by his officers. Later PW5 called him and informed him about a suspicious image appearing on the screen of the scanning machine and he went over to the scanner with another officer named Tarm