The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 11 April 1998

Trio jailed 12 years for drug possession

OFF TO JAIL ... (from left) Gee, Lo and Chow leaving the Ipoh High Court building yesterday after they were sentenced to 12 years' jail and 10 strokes of the rotan each.

IPOH: The High Court here sentenced three men yesterday to 12 years in jail and ordered them to be given 10 strokes of the rotan each for possessing drugs.

The three -- Gee Kean Siang, 25, Chow Kam Wen, 26, and Lo Kok Min, 29, -- were originally charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

On Wednesday, the High Court, at the close of the prosecution's case, amended the original charge to one of possession.

Lo of Taman Ipoh, Gee of Malacca and Chow of Lahat, Ipoh, were convicted of being in possession of 3,587.88gm of heroin and 107.4gm of monoacetylmorphines at 47, Jalan Limau Kasturi, Taman Kampar Jaya, in Kampar at 1.30pm on Nov 14, 1995.

They had chosen to remain silent in their defence.

The jail term is effective from the date of arrest in 1995.

Borneo Bulletin, Brunei, 21 April 1998

Addict jailed 5 years

By Magdalene Rogers

[KUCHING (Malaysia):] A 21-year-old drug addict was jailed for five years and given 10 strokes of the cane for possession of ganja by the Sessions Court here yesterday.

Simon Lim, who was arrested on February 12 in a rented room, pleaded guilty for possessing ganja hidden in a cupboard in his room.

The offence, which is punishable under Section 39(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, was discovered after a police party raided Simon's rented room at Jalan Datuk Hamdan off Jalan Tabuan here.

Justice Yew Jen Kie ordered the youth to undergo the sentence effective the day of his arrest.

Simon, in his mitigation, said the drugs was for his own consumption.

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