A former property agent in Singapore was sentenced to death on Apr. 2 for trafficking cannabis.
Seet Poh Jing, 28, claimed trial to a charge of possessing around 4.5kg of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
The offence is punishable under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA).
Seet was arrested on Jun. 28, 2018.
He was led by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) to a white BMW hatchback car.
Officers found plastic bags containing five "blocks of vegetable matter" during a search.
The blocks were later examined by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) to contain no less than 4,509.2g of cannabis.
Seet was also on trial for another 23 charges under the MDA, though those charges were stood down pending the trial for the above-mentioned charge.
Why the death penalty?
Under the MDA, a person in possession of a given amount of drugs exceeding certain stipulated amounts is presumed to be possessing them for the purpose of trafficking.
Anything above 15g of cannabis, 30g of cannabis mixture or 10g of cannabis resin warrants such a presumption.
Also under the MDA, anyone found trafficking controlled drugs, with certain exceptions, is liable to receive the death penalty.
The burden of proof fell on Seet to argue that the drugs were not for the purpose of trafficking.
"Research and development"
Seet's defence mainly rested on the claim that he was in possession of the cannabis for the purposes of research and development of cannabidiol (CBD), and not for the purposes of trafficking.
He claimed in his defence that he had developed a fascination with cannabis that went beyond mere consumption, and was looking to set up a cannabis-related business here.
He claimed to have consulted a few contacts since Mar. 18, regarding his plans to set up such a business.
Met with a lawyer
Seet also apparently met with a senior counsel, Kertar Singh, who had previously represented Seet's sister, hoping that Kertar could be "the exclusive guy for [his] ... legal matters" relating to cultivating cannabis in Singapore.
The accused apparently wanted Kertar to arrange appointments with HSA and CNB to find out where Seet stood with relevant government bodies in Singapore.
He apparently wanted to talk about “cannabis cultivation and -- or even like opening a laboratory to --to patent the cannabis genetics or whichever in the food chain that Singapore can have a piece of the pie of the cannabis industry”.
He also told Kertar that he wanted to set up a cannabis cafe.
Kertar rubbished the idea, telling him it was "virtually impossible", as well as to "take it out of his head".
Kertar was emphatic about Seet's plans being futile, and advised him that he could not help him.
Claims of hypomania
Seet further claimed that he was suffering from a "drug-induced hypomanic episode" that led him to recklessly concoct such plans to set up a cannabis business by extracting CBD oil.
This claim rested upon a psychiatric report made by a Jacob Rajesh, a senior consultant psychiatrist who specialises in forensic and general adult psychiatry, midway through the trial in early 2023.
Rajesh opined that Seet was suffering from a “drug induced hypomanic episode with onset sometime in March/ April 2018" that had a strong influence on his wild plans to set up a local cannabis-related business.
The doctor's claims clashed with those of another doctor, Kenneth Koh, from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), who had initially examined Seet in July 2018.
Koh produced a report on Jul. 20, 2018 that claimed that while Seet suffered from a substance abuse disorder, he did not suffer from any "major mental disorder".
Either way, the claims of possessing drugs solely for research purposes, as well as that of hypomania, were submitted as rebuttals to the presumption of trafficking.
Inconsistent statements
Justice See found Seet's claims to be "riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies".
The judge found it "difficult to believe that Seet had any concrete ideas or plans for the research and development" of CBD, concluding that any such plans were solely in the realm of Seet's "imagination".
The evidence also largely pointed to Seet's interest in trafficking the drugs.
Seized phone records show that, on May. 30, 2018, Seet, under the moniker of "Ganja Man", had advertised the sale of "weed" to at least 19 contacts.
Items normally used by traffickers, like stained knives and stained digital weighing scales, were also found in Seet's possession at the time of his arrest.
Seet also mentioned other reasons for possessing the drugs when he was first arrested in 2018.
These included wanting to help his "damaged friends", possessing them for "sharing", as well as his own "consumption and selling".
He also claimed to have been forced by his supplier to accept such a large amount of cannabis.
During the course of these initial long statements, the judgment noted that Seet did not make any specific reference to his interests in research and development as a reason for procuring the drugs, casting doubt on the credibility of such a defence.
Seet argued that he had not raised this line of defence for fear of implicating his friends.
However, the judgment found little evidence to support such an argument.
Clashing psychiatric reports
Justice See also found Seet's claims of a hypomanic episode to be inadequate, casting doubt on the report made by Rajesh.
Koh had prepared a report on Jul. 24, 2023, questioning Rajesh's findings, noting that Rajesh had failed to consider discrepancies between the statements by Seet to both doctors, even though he was aware of both accounts.
Koh had found that while Seet had "mild manic tendencies", he did not exhibit "hypomania", and was neither psychotic nor impaired in his judgment and cognitive functioning.
As such, Justice See held that Seet had failed to rebut the presumption of drug trafficking on the grounds of hypomania.
https://mothership.sg/2024/04/death-drug-trafficking-cannabis-for-research/
