MAN ACQUITTED OF DRUG CHARGES

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- "After five years and seven months in jail, I feel like I have been reborn," said a man after he escaped the death penalty at the High Court here today.

A. Thanasegaran, 29, who was freed and acquitted from charges of drug distribution and possession, could not contain his happiness and proceeded to hug his friends upon hearing the decision, although Judicial Commissioner Azman Abdullah, had yet to end the proceedings.

In his judgement, Azman said the prosecutor failed to prove a prima facie case against Thanasegaran because there was a difference in the gross weight of the drugs as stated by the raiding authorities and chemists, in both charges.

For the second charge of drug possession, no remarks were made in the seized goods submission documents by the arresting officer and the investigating officer, said Azman.

Thanasegaran, who works in the advertising field, was charged with distributing of 27.66gms of a coctail of drugs (25.06gms heroin and 2.6gms of Monoacetylmorphines) and possession of 0.108g of of the two substances (0.100g heroin and 0.008g monoacetylmorphine).

Both offences were allegedly committed in the parking lot of the Grand Seasons Hotel, Jalan Pahang here at 7pm on April 22, 2004. Persons convicted of drug trafficking in Malaysia face the mandatory death sentence.

-- BERNAMA

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