Pubdate: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 Source: Star, The (Malaysia) Copyright: 2006 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. Contact: http://www.thestar.com.my Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/922 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) EX-CONTRACT WORKER GETS 20 YEARS IN JAIL INSTEAD PUTRAJAYA: The trap sprang too early in the drug transaction and this saved a former contract worker from the death sentence for trafficking. Saari Jusoh had been jointly charged with Mohd Saufi Jusoh with trafficking in 3,686gm of cannabis at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak in Johor Baru on Sept 8, 1991. On Dec 11, 1995 the High Court sentenced Saari to death for trafficking. (Mohd Saufi was acquitted of the charge.) Yesterday, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and set aside the sentence and ordered that Saari be jailed 20 years and whipped 12 times for drug possession. Justice Gopal Sri Ram, who led a three-man panel, said there was no sale of drugs in the "transaction" between Saari and an undercover policeman. "A mere agreement to buy or sell a prescribed drug is not an act of trafficking within Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act," he said. "Neither, we may add, do negotiations for a sale amount to the offence of trafficking within section 39B(1)(a). "It is our judgment that to constitute the act of selling within Section 2 of the Act, there must have been an actual delivery of the drugs by the appellant accompanied by the physical handing over the agreed price by the agent provocateur. "Needless to say such a completed transaction did not take place in the present instance because the trap was sprung too early," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake