Drug dealer who said he meant to throw ‘bad quality’ Ice away gets 26 years’ jail, caning

SINGAPORE - A 37-year-old drug dealer who was arrested during a raid told investigators that a large part of the methamphetamine found in his apartment was to be thrown away, following complaints from customers that the drugs were of bad quality.

Muhammad Ash’ary Jamaluddin originally faced the death penalty and was scheduled to be tried for trafficking 520.24g of methamphetamine, commonly known as Ice. Under the law, those who traffick more than 250g of Ice face the death penalty.

Shortly before the nine-day trial was to start on April 11, the prosecution amended the capital charge after a review of the evidence, including text messages on his phone.

On Tuesday, Ash’ary was sentenced to 26 years’ jail and 20 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking 249.99g of Ice; one count of trafficking 28.5g of ketamine; one count of possessing 12.7g of MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy; and one count of consumption of Ice.

Another 14 drug-related charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

They include a charge for possession of Ice, which pertained to the quantity of drugs Ash’ary maintained he had intended to throw away.

He was arrested by Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers on the evening of Nov 16, 2020, at the ground floor of his apartment block in Somme Road.

Various drugs and drug-related paraphernalia were found on him and in his rented apartment.

On Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutors John Lu and Samuel Chew sought a jail term of between 27 years and 10 months and 30 years, as well as 20 strokes of the cane, given the large amounts of drugs involved and the number of offences.

Ash’ary’s assigned lawyers, Mr Wong Siew Hong and Mr Ho Thiam Huat, argued for 24 years’ jail and 20 strokes. In their mitigation, the lawyers said Ash’ary began using Ice in 2015 and started dealing in drugs in 2019 as a result of his addiction.

The defence said that right from the beginning, he had told CNB officers the Ice in two glass containers hidden in the freezer was intended to be thrown away. But he did not have the chance to do so because he and his former wife had gone for a staycation at a hotel from Nov 14 to 16, 2020, as part of their reconciliation efforts, said the lawyers.

The defence acknowledged that the claim sounded “far-fetched, even outlandish”.

“Nevertheless, at the defence’s request, the investigation officer laboriously and manually combed through the message threads one by one, and the messages did indeed reveal that Ash’ary had received complaints from his customers,” they said.

In court, when asked by Justice Aedit Abdullah if he had anything to say, Ash’ary admitted to his wrongdoing and said he will seek out programmes in prison and reflect on what he had done.