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Kotaro Fuma
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Apr 5, 2011
Bodyguard jailed 5 months for possessing Ice
By Khushwant Singh
MOHAMMED Rashidi Ramli found a packet of white crystals and a pipe in the hotel room he shared with six other bodyguards while on assignment in Kuala Lumpur last October. The 28-year-old Malaysian kept these items in his sling bag with the intention of reporting his find to his supervisor,
However, in his rush to meet a friend in Singapore, he forgot to leave these items behind and they were discovered in his bag when he drove across the Causeway at 2.15am on Oct 10.
In a district court on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to drug possession. Pleading for leniency, defence counsel Christopher Bridges said that his client was not a drug user, a fact confirmed by the results of the urine test conducted immediately after the arrest. Mohammed Rashidi's supervisor had also corroborated the bodyguard's account in an interview with officers of the Central Narcotics Bureau, added the lawyer.
Noting the special circumstances in this case, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim imposed a five-month jail sentence. 'This is as lenient as the court can go,' she told the tall, burly man with a shaven head standing in the dock. While the maximum sentence is a $20,000 fine and a 10-year jail term, the sentences meted out by the courts on first offenders is usually between eight and 10 months.
Mr Bridges said that Mohammed Rashidi was hired as a security escort officer for tennis players at the Kuala Lumpur 2010 Showdown of Champions on Oct 6 to 9 last year, featuring tennis personalities such as Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Pat Cash and Martina Hingis.
When Mohammed Rashidi went to collect his belongings from the hotel room to check out, he discovered a glass pipe and an empty packet left next to the mini bar.
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