SINGAPORE - A drug trafficker who escaped the gallows earlier this year after the Court of Appeal accepted that there could have been a mix-up in the order he placed with his supplier was jailed for eight years on Monday (June 15) after being convicted of two amended charges.
Han Fang Guan, 59, was initially given the mandatory death penalty in 2018 after the High Court convicted him of attempting to traffic in not less than 18.62g of heroin.
The heroin was among seven bundles of drugs that a courier had collected from a supplier in Malaysia in March 2016 and was supposed to deliver to various recipients in Singapore.
But the courier, Khor Chong Seng, was caught at the Woodlands Checkpoint with three bundles of heroin, one of methamphetamine and three of nimetazepam tablets.
Han was arrested after Khor helped Central Narcotics Bureau officers in a follow-up operation.
He appealed against his conviction, maintaining that he had ordered only 100g of ketamine and 25g of Ice, a street name for methamphetamine, and not heroin.
The Court of Appeal acquitted him in February of the capital charge after concluding that there was reasonable doubt that Han had ordered heroin from his supplier.
However, the apex court said alternative charges should be brought for attempting to commit a different offence.
On Monday, two counts - one for attempting to traffic in 25g of methamphetamine and one for attempting to traffic in "an unspecified portion" of 100g of ketamine - were read out to Han.
He did not contest the amended charges and was convicted based on the evidence brought during his High Court trial.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lau Wing Yum sought at least 12 years' jail for the ketamine charge, saying that the sentence should take into account the actual amount of drug that was to be delivered to him.
Han's lawyer, Mr Low Cheong Yeow, asked for a jail term of between six and eight years on the ketamine charge, arguing that the supplier's mix-up in orders cannot be attributed to Han.
Both sides agreed that Han should get the mandatory minimum term of five years on the methamphetamine charge.
The court, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and Steven Chong, imposed eight years' jail for the ketamine charge and five years for the methamphetamine charge. Both terms are to run concurrently.
