A man who was caught for having drugs at Lasalle College of the Arts was jailed for five months on Friday. Anand Gokul Anand, 23, who topped his class when he graduated, pleaded guilty to having two packets of 0.81g of cannabis at the Student Service Centre of Lasalle at McNally Street on Oct 11 last year.

A district court heard that the Indian national was arrested at the college on suspicion of having taken controlled drugs that day. A search was conducted and two packets of drugs were recovered from a black box in his bag.

His lawyer Irving Choh had asked for a fine, saying he was a young and bright individual with exceptional talent in the arts. He said the pressures of academia and the fact that he was a foreign student contributed to his stress.

But Assistant Public Prosecutor Mika Talreja objected to the fine. She highlighted that Gokul was a student who brought drugs to school. He and his friends actively sought the trafficker to buy drugs and did so on numerous occasions, she added. Gokul could have been jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined up to $20,000.