Public Prosecutor v Hassan Bin Mohamad

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Marvin Bay
• Judgment Date: 13 February 2014
• Neutral Citation: [2014] SGDC 57
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC 758/2013, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 004/2014/01
• Year: 2014
• Published date: 20 March 2014
• Hearing Date: 14 January 2014,04 October 2013,06 January 2014,10 January 2014,09 January 2014,13 February 2014,08 January 2014,07 January 2014,03 October 2013
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Tan Wee Hao
• Defendant Counsel: Accused in Person
• Citation: [2014] SGDC 57

District Judge Marvin Bay: The charge

The accused, a male Singaporean aged 52 years old, claimed trial to the following charge:

DAC 758/2013

“You are charged that you, on the 8th day of May 2012, at about 2.50 p.m. 12.25pm, in a motor car bearing registration number SJG 7063S, Along Geylang Lorong 36, did traffic in a Class A controlled drug listed in the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act (Chapter 185, 2008 Revised Edition), to wit, by delivering one packet containing 442.5 grams of granular/powdery substance which was analysed and found to contain not less than 14.05 grams of diamorphine, to one Syed Zulkifli bin Syed Hussin (Bearing NRIC : xxx) without any authorization under the said Act or the Regulations made thereunder, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 5(1)(a) and punishable under Section 33(1) of the said Act.”

At the conclusion of the trial, the accused Mr Hassan Bin Mohamad (Hassan) was found guilty and convicted on the charge. A sentence of 23 years’ imprisonment was imposed. His co-accused Mr Syed Zulkifli Bin Syed Hussin (Zulkifli) was sentenced to a global sentence of 23 years imprisonment for his role in the transaction upon which the accused was charged, as well as a number of charges pertaining to consumption and possession of drugs. On 14 January 2014, the accused filed a notice of appeal against conviction and sentence. His co-accused did not appeal his conviction or sentence.

The Case for the Prosecution

To establish their case, the Prosecution produced the following witnesses¹:

S/N	NAME	ROLE	WITNESS
1.	WILLIAM TAN	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW1
2.	NG DAVID	Arresting officer (CNB) Contemporaneous statement recorder	PW2
3.	ENG CHIEN LOONG EUGENE	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW3
4.	KUA BOON SAN	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW4
5.	BUKHARI BIN AHMAD	Arresting officer Sealed urine sample	PW5
6	WONG KAH HUNG ALWIN	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW6
7	MUHAMMAD FARDLIE BIN RAMLIE	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW7
8	LOW HUI CHING JASYLIN	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW8
9	CHEW THYE KWANG JORDI	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW9
10.	SUNNY TAY KENG CHYE	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW10
11.	TOH AH HONG	Photographer (CID)	PW11
12.	CHIEN LIK SEONG SUNNY	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW12
13.	HENG CHIN KOK	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW13
14.	LARRY TAY CHOK CHWEE	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW14
15.	TAN ZHANG SHENG	Arresting officer (CNB)	PW15
16.	NURLIYANA BINTE MOHAMED IDROS	Obtained blood sample (Zulkifli)	PW16
17.	TONY NG TZE CHIANG	Arresting officer (CNB) Contemporaneous statement recorder	PW17
18.	ABDUL RAHMAN KADIR	Obtained blood sample (Hassan)	PW18
19.	JOYCE LOW HUI KOON (for SIMON LIM)	DNA Analyst (HSA)	PW19
20.	SABTU SAMADEE	Collected DNA (CID)	PW20
21.	WONG HANG YEE	DNA Analyst (HSA)	PW21
22.	WENDY LIM	Drug Analyst (HAS)	PW22
23.	CHAN JOO JIN	Long statement and Cautioned statement recorder	PW23
24.	NORASHIKIN BINTE BUNYAMIN	Interpreter	PW24
25.	POH BENG KIONG	Delivered blood sample	PW25
26.	NEO HUI YEE	Doctor (Zulkifli)	PW26

Operation by CNB officers leading to arrest

Police intelligence had alerted CNB of Hassan being allegedly involved in trafficking activities. Pursuant to this, significant resources were mounted for an operation to surveil and arrest Hassan in the afternoon of 8 May 2012. In the course of the trial, no fewer than 15 CNB officers gave evidence on the circumstances of their surveillance, arrest and the immediate sequelae of searches and recording of contemporaneous statements.

The operation entailed a team in five cars and two motorcycles. The cars were given the suffix E (for ‘Eagle’) and the motorcycles S (for ‘Sparrow’). The separate sub groups comprised 14 officers in their separate vehicles². E-1: DSP William Tan and Staff Sergeant Eugene Eng, E-2: Senior Station Inspector Tony Ng and Senior Station Inspector Heng Chin Kok, E3: Senior Staff Sergeant Kua Boon San and Senior Station Inspector David Ng, E4.: Station Inspector Larry Tay and Staff Sergeant Bukhari. E5: Senior Staff Sergeant Jasylin Low and Staff Sergeant Jordi Chew, S1: Sergeant Fardlie and Senior Staff Sergeant Alvin Wong, and; S2: Staff Sergeant Sunny Chien and Staff Sergeant Sunny Tay.

Three of the arresting officers, namely PW1 DSP William Tan, PW2 Ng David, and PW3 Eugene Eng, testified to directly witnessing of the transaction between the accused persons Hassan and Zulkifli. Only their evidence will be set out in detail below, as the other twelve officers at the scene did not closely observe the interactions between the two, and their evidence, for the most part, was limited to corroborative testimonies of contemporaneous radio communications that occurred during the operation prior to the arrest. They were however involved in the pursuit, separate interception and the search of the vehicles driven by Hassan and Zulkifli. Some of these officers were also involved as well as the taking of statements and processing of items found in Zulkifli’s vehicle.

Testimony of PW1, DSP William Tan

Deputy Superintendent William Tan, who was attached to the Special Task Force Intelligence Division, CNB, testified that he had conducted the operational briefing for his team of CNB Officers, informing them that CNB had received information of Hassan being involved in ‘drug activities’. Police intelligence has stated that he would be driving a Red Nissan March with registration number SCP1773B for a rendezvous with another party on or about 2:40pm at the vicinity of Lorong 38, Geylang Road.

Pursuant to this, DSP Tan parked his car at the side of the road opposite to the entrance to Lorong 36, Geylang Road. He remained in the car while Staff Sergeant Eugene Eng alighted to surveil on foot. Shortly thereafter, he saw the Red Nissan March SCP1773B travel along Geylang Road, and then turn into Lorong 36, Geylang Road. The Red Nissan March then parked in a lot along Lorong 36. Hassan, the driver then alighted but momentarily remained just outside his vehicle. A while later, DSP Tan saw a Toyota Vios bearing registration number SJG7063S parking in the parking lot behind Hassan’s Red Nissan March. He then saw Hassan board the Toyota Vios’ front passenger’s seat. Shortly after, Hassan was seen alighting from the vehicle carrying a white plastic bag and return to his vehicle. He placed this white plastic bag into his vehicle and walked back to the Toyota Vios with a blue plastic bag. Moments later, Hassan returned to his vehicle empty-handed. Both vehicles then moved off and DSP Tan trailed the Toyota Vios with Staff Sergeant Eugene Eng.

At about 3:05pm, at the junction of Paya Lebar Road and Sims Avenue, the vehicle was intercepted and the driver was found to be a Syed Zulkifli Bin Syed Hussin (Zulkifli). DSP Tan was informed later that Hassan’s vehicle had been intercepted and his identity confirmed. Upon Zulkifli’s arrest, he was escorted to a car park at Stadium Boulevard. After questioning by SI Tony, Zulkifli had surrendered a number of items from his vehicle SJG7063S. Under the driver’s seat, a single blue³ plastic bag was found. This blue bag held a black bundle⁴ suspected to contain a controlled drug.

Chain of custody and drug analysis of the package

This black package A1A was passed by PW12, Staff Sergeant Sunny Chien, to PW 13, Senior Station Inspector Heng Chin Kok. After photo-taking, weighing, and swabbing were done on the exhibit for DNA samples, A1A was passed to SSI Heng handed the items to the investigating officer, PW23, ASP Chan Joo Jin. He in turn passed A1A to HSA analyst Tan Sylvia for analysis.

On 5 December 2012, Tan Sylvia produced P37, stating that on analysis, the suspected drug exhibit A1A was found to be one packet containing 442.5 grams of granular/powdery substance which was analysed and found to contain not less than 14.05 grams of diamorphine, a Class A Controlled Drug listed in the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Other items found-controlled drugs and cash

Other items of interest were recovered from the vehicle driven by Zulkifli. Under the driver’s seat beside the blue plastic bag, a black iTech bag was recovered. This contained containing a packet of vegetable matter suspected to be cannabis. Under the carpet of the driver floorboard, yet another packet of brown granular substance, this time believed to be heroin, was found. Subsequent analysis confirmed these suspicions.

Zulkifli was also found with a significant amount of money. This included the sum of $4200 in a wallet, $998.40 on his person, and a further sum of $3000 found in a pouch. In his subsequent statement⁵, he stated that the $4200 in his wallet and $398.40, out of the sum of $998.40 found on him, were earnings from his Nasi Padang stall. The $3000, however, was a sum he intended to pass to Hassan on the morning of his arrest.

Evidence of PW2 SSI Ng David and PW 3 Eng Chien Loong

PW2 was Senior Station Inspector Ng David, also from the CNB’s Special Task Force. He was in a different vehicle from PW1. His account is, otherwise similar in detail. At the stake out point, he had been informed that SCP1773B had been spotted travelling along Geylang Road near Lorong 38, and subsequently turning to Lorong 36, Geylang Road. Once SCP1773B had parked, he alighted from his own vehicle and walked towards the vehicle’s direction.

A few minutes later, another vehicle SJG7063S had parked directly behind SCP1773B. As he walked past this vehicle, he saw Hassan sitting at the front passenger seat...