Borneo Bulletin, BSB, 17 May 2000

Syabu couple gets 23 years

A married couple will not be able to hold their cash of $21,000 and jewelleries until a very long period of time, because they were sentenced to 23 years of jail term in the High Court yesterday for importing 136.99 grams of syabu from Labuan.

Justice Steven Chong also ordered 15 strokes of rattan to Jaya bin Hj Abdul Ghani, 38, while Hjh Gaira binti Hj Ahmad, 42, escaped the rattan.

Judge Chong noted a staggering increase in the quantity of syabu seized, from 236.6956 grams in 1998 to 1,196.73 grams last year, according to the statistics from the Narcotics Control Bureau.

Before passing sentence, Judge Chong took into consideration that importing syabu is Hj Ghani's first conviction, although he has a record of previous convictions for the consumption of syabu in 1992, 1996 and this year.

Hj Ghani is still serving a sentence of four years for the charge of consumption of syabu early this year. According to Judge Chong, Hjh Gaira appears to have a clean record. She was pregnant during the course of trial and has recently delivered a son.

The case concerned the import into Brunei of a substantial quantity of a dangerous drug with an essential street value of over $139,000.