SANDAKAN: The Sessions Court here sentenced a 24-year-old man to a RM25,000 fine or five months’ jail for selling ketum water.
Judge Roslinda Razali handed down the sentence after Mohamad Dzul Khairi Janudin pleaded guilty to the offence committed at 8.30am on Jan 8, this year, at a house in a Beluran village.
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The court heard from the prosecution that prior to Dzul’s arrest, a team from the Beluran branch of the 20th General Operations Force Battalion had conducted surveillance and raided the house.
Dzul was seen carrying bottles containing a brown liquid suspected to be ketum water.
A further search of a storeroom beside the house uncovered 32 bottles, each 1.5 litres, containing a cloudy liquid also suspected to be ketum water.
Officers also found five plastic packets of plant material believed to be ketum powder in his room.
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Dzul was arrested and informed of the reasons for his detention after the liquids and plant mixtures, which contained Mitragynine, were found in his possession.
Chemical analysis by the Chemistry Department in Kota Kinabalu confirmed the seized liquid and plant material contained Mitragynine, a substance listed under the First and Third Schedules of the Poison Act 1952 (Psychotropic Substances).
Dzul was charged under Section 30(3) of the Poison Act 1952, punishable under Section 30(5) of the same Act, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail, a fine of up to RM100,000, or both, on conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yuvan Bharathan prosecuted the case.
Dzul, unrepresented, paid the fine.
