PP v Selamat Bin Paki: Trafficking of Diamorphine under the Misuse of Drugs Act

In [2016] SGHC 226, the High Court of Singapore heard the case of Public Prosecutor v Selamat Bin Paki, Ali Bin Mohamad Bahashwan, and Ragunath Nair A/L Janartan, concerning charges of trafficking in diamorphine. Selamat was charged with transporting diamorphine, Ali with abetting Selamat, and Ragunath with delivering the diamorphine to Selamat. The court found all three accused guilty as charged, determining that Selamat and Ragunath acted as couriers, while Ali was the principal.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

All three accused guilty as charged and convicted accordingly.

1.3 Case Type

Criminal

1.4 Judgment Type

Judgment

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Selamat Bin Paki, Ali Bin Mohamad Bahashwan, and Ragunath Nair were charged with trafficking diamorphine. The court found all three guilty, with Selamat and Ragunath acting as couriers.

1.7 Decision Date

19 October 2016

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Public Prosecutor	Prosecution	Government Agency	Guilty as charged	Won	Theong Li Han of Attorney-General’s Chambers Lee Zu Zhao of Attorney-General’s Chambers Andrew Low of Attorney-General’s Chambers Eugene Lee of Attorney-General’s Chambers
Ali bin Mohamad Bahashwan	Defendant	Individual	Guilty as charged	Lost	Cheong Jun Ming Mervyn of Eugene Thuraisingam Sankar s/o Kailasa Thevar Saminathan of Sterling Law Corporation Wong Li-Yen Dew of Dew Chambers Ho Thiam Huat of T H Ho Law Chambers Hany Soh Hui Bin of Chia-Thomas Law Chambers LLC Ismail Hamid of Ismail Hamid & Co Ong Cheong Wei of Belinda Ang Tang & Partners Michael Chia Soo of Chia-Thomas Law Chambers LLC
Selamat bin Paki	Defendant	Individual	Guilty as charged	Lost	Sanjiv Rajan of Allen & Gledhill LLP Wong Seow Pin of S P Wong & Co Luke Lee of Luke Lee & Co Cai Cheng Ying of Allen & Gledhill LLP James Masih of James Masih & Company
Ragunath Nair A/L Janartan	Defendant	Individual	Guilty as charged	Lost	K Jayakumar Naidu of Jay Associates Nedumaran Muthukrishnan of M Nedumaran & Co

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Choo Han Teck	Judge	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Theong Li Han	Attorney-General’s Chambers
Lee Zu Zhao	Attorney-General’s Chambers
Andrew Low	Attorney-General’s Chambers
Eugene Lee	Attorney-General’s Chambers
Cheong Jun Ming Mervyn	Eugene Thuraisingam
Sankar s/o Kailasa Thevar Saminathan	Sterling Law Corporation
Wong Li-Yen Dew	Dew Chambers
Ho Thiam Huat	T H Ho Law Chambers
Hany Soh Hui Bin	Chia-Thomas Law Chambers LLC
Ismail Hamid	Ismail Hamid & Co
Ong Cheong Wei	Belinda Ang Tang & Partners
Michael Chia Soo	Chia-Thomas Law Chambers LLC
Sanjiv Rajan	Allen & Gledhill LLP
Wong Seow Pin	S P Wong & Co
Luke Lee	Luke Lee & Co
Cai Cheng Ying	Allen & Gledhill LLP
James Masih	James Masih & Company
K Jayakumar Naidu	Jay Associates
Nedumaran Muthukrishnan	M Nedumaran & Co

4. Facts

Selamat met Ragunath at the void deck of Blk 299B Tampines Street 22.
Ragunath delivered a packet containing 456.2g of a granular/powdery substance containing not less than 27.12g of diamorphine to Selamat.
Selamat handed over a packet of money containing $5,400 to Ragunath in return.
Ali instructed Selamat to collect the Bundle and provided him with the money.
All three men were arrested and subsequently charged for trafficking in 27.12g of diamorphine.
Selamat and Ali admit that they consumed heroin and trafficked in it.

5. Formal Citations

Public Prosecutor v Selamat bin Paki and others, Criminal Case No 12 of 2015, [2016] SGHC 226

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2012-10-23	Offence took place
2015-02-17	Trial began
2015-02-18	Trial
2015-02-24	Trial
2015-05-07	Trial
2015-05-21	Trial
2015-07-21	Trial
2015-08-11	Trial
2015-08-12	Trial
2015-08-13	Trial
2015-10-22	Trial
2016-08-10	Trial
2016-08-12	Trial
2016-08-16	Trial
2016-08-17	Trial
2016-08-18	Trial
2016-08-19	Trial
2016-09-06	Trial
2016-10-20	Judgment reserved

7. Legal Issues

Trafficking in a controlled drug
- Outcome: The court found all three accused guilty of trafficking in diamorphine.
- Category: Substantive
Presumption of trafficking
- Outcome: The court found that Selamat and Ali did not prove on a balance of probabilities that they were not trafficking in more than 15g of heroin, thus the presumption was not rebutted.
- Category: Substantive
Presumption of possession and knowledge of controlled drugs
- Outcome: The court found that Ragunath did not rebut the presumption of knowledge on a balance of probabilities under s 18(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
- Category: Substantive

8. Remedies Sought

Conviction
Sentencing

9. Cause of Actions

Trafficking in a Controlled Drug
Abetment by Instigation of Trafficking in a Controlled Drug

10. Practice Areas

Criminal Law
Drug Trafficking

11. Industries

No industries specified

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
No cited cases

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) s 5(1)(a)	Singapore
Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) s 33(1)	Singapore
Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) s 12	Singapore
Misuse of Drugs Act s 17(c)	Singapore
Misuse of Drugs Act s 18(2)	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Diamorphine
Trafficking
Courier
Abetment
Misuse of Drugs Act
Presumption of Trafficking
Presumption of Knowledge

15.2 Keywords

Diamorphine
Drug Trafficking
Misuse of Drugs Act
Singapore
Criminal Law

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Criminal Law	95
Misuse of Drugs Act	95
Sentencing	60
Evidence	50

16. Subjects

Criminal Law
Drug Trafficking