SOURCE: The Straits Times
A 27-YEAR-OLD jobless Malaysian man who was paid RM200 (S$80) to carry a “food package” into Singapore was yesterday given the mandatory death penalty after he was convicted of trafficking in 19.35g of heroin.
Dinesh Pillai Reja Retnam had carried the drugs – wrapped in brown paper tied with rubber bands, with packets of chilli and gravy – through the Causeway in a compartment of his motorcycle on Dec 19, 2009. It was the third time he had brought such packages into Singapore.
Dinesh’s defence was that he did not know the package contained drugs and that at most, it contained contraband, such as money, electronic parts or gold.
But Justice Chan Seng Onn did not believe him, saying he did not make eye contact with immigration officers when he was checked, showing that he was nervous.
The judge also said Dinesh should have believed the package contained drugs, given that he had delivered such packages on two previous occasions.
Justice Chan also found that he could not give a good explanation for not opening up the package to check the contents.
On the night of Dec 19, 2009, Dinesh was arrested after Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers, alerted by immigration officers, found a red plastic bag in the compartment under the seat of his motorcycle.
Inside the bag were a brown package tied with rubber bands, a packet of chilli and a packet of curry.
Through a gap in the wrapper, a CNB officer saw some brownish substance packed in a separate bag – this was later analysed to contain 19.35g of heroin.
The prosecution’s case against Dinesh is that he was wilfully blind to the fact that he was importing heroin into Singapore. By his own admission, he had, on two occasions before his arrest, successfully brought packages packed in the exact same manner into Singapore.
He had told investigators that someone known as “Raja” in Johor Baru would give him the number of a Singapore contact known as “Boy”, who would then tell him where to meet for the handover.
Dinesh said he was told by Raja that the “food item” he was to deliver was something expensive, and it was not to be opened as Boy would otherwise not accept it.
He said no money changed hands during the first delivery, but the second time, Boy handed him $9,600, which he then passed to Raja when he returned to JB.
The death penalty is mandatory for anyone found guilty of trafficking in 15g or more of heroin.