Apex Court upholds death sentences for 2 traffickers in 1.3kg cannabis case, third man jailed for life

SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal on Friday (Nov 26) dismissed appeals by three males in opposition to their convictions for their roles in the trafficking of about 1.3kg of cannabis.This implies that Malaysian Kamalnathan Muniandy, 27, and Singaporean Chandroo Subramaniam, 52, will probably be sentenced to death for conspiring to visitors the Class A managed drug.Malaysian nationwide Pravinash Chandran, 26, will probably be jailed for life and given 15 strokes of the cane for having the medicine in his possession for the aim of trafficking. He was discovered to be a mere courier of the medicine, and the prosecution had licensed that he substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in disrupting drug trafficking actions inside or outdoors Singapore.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

The trial decide had discovered in his choice in October 2020 that the three males had agreed to fulfill on Mar 5, 2016, to ship three blocks of vegetable matter containing at the very least 1.34kg of cannabis to Chandroo.Kamalnathan and Pravinash entered Singapore by Woodlands Checkpoint, and headed to Kranji MRT station. The medicine had been transferred into Pravinash's haversack earlier than they headed to Kranji Road, the place they met Chandroo.Chandroo handed cash and empty plastic baggage to Kamalnathan and Pravinash, earlier than splitting up. The three males had been arrested shortly after by CNB officers, and the medicine had been discovered in Pravinash's haversack.During the trial, all three males gave totally different accounts of what occurred. Pravinash admitted coming into Singapore that day to ship medicine to a buyer in Singapore.He mentioned he carried one of many three blocks of cannabis at first, whereas Kamalnathan carried the opposite two. According to him, Kamalnathan took the lead and obtained directions from a "boss" referred to as Suren through his handphone.Pravinash mentioned it was Kamalnathan who established contact with Chandroo, took the cash and plastic baggage from him and instructed they regroup at a espresso store attributable to police presence. Pravinash denied realizing the character of the medicine.Kamalnathan admitted in his police statements that he took directions from Suren and knew Pravinash had medicine on him, as he had been paid a major sum of 200 ringgit to take Pravinash to Singapore.However, he mentioned it was Pravinash who recognized Chandroo. At trial, he modified his model of occasions to say he had entered Singapore to discover a job, and that it was Pravinash who informed him to take directions from Suren.Chandroo denied all data of the medicine and trafficking. He mentioned in an preliminary assertion that he was on his solution to Malaysia to move S$4,000 to a pal to pay for his home.He fortuitously met Kamalnathan and Pravinash for the primary time alongside Kranji Road when Pravinash stopped to ask for instructions to Tekka, he claimed.Later on, at trial, Chandroo claimed he was at Kranji Road to move cash to a pal.The Court of Appeal in their judgment on Friday discovered that the trial decide had neither erred in accepting Pravinash's account of occasions, nor in rejecting the accounts of Kamalnathan and Chandroo.Evidence confirmed that Kamalnathan and Pravinash had beforehand delivered medicine to clients in Singapore. Pravinash mentioned that they had delivered medicine to strangers in Singapore on Mar 1, 2 and 4 in 2016, and this was corroborated by their Immigration and Checkpoints Authority data reflecting their entry into the nation.Kamalnathan's telephone and toll data confirmed he was in fixed contact with Suren after these entries into Singapore.The Court of Appeal affirmed the convictions of all three males, and dismissed their appeals in opposition to their respective sentences, saying there was no foundation to put aside the obligatory sentences.