On 2 July 2013 the Alor Setar High Court sentenced Thai national Thitima Khongnun, 30, to death for trafficking 18,172 grams of cannabis two years earlier.[1][2] Thitima, a single mother of two children, was found guilty by Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab of committing the offence near the Jitra Toll Plaza in Jitra at 9.10 pm on 20 October 2011.[1][2] She had been detained by an enforcement team from the Customs Department while on board a bus heading to Kuala Lumpur from Changlun.[1]

The judge held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and that Thitima had possession of the drug found inside the luggage she was carrying.[1] Her defence, that the bag had been given to her by a man known only as Adi to transport to Kuala Lumpur, failed to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.[1] Deputy public prosecutor Naziah Mokhtar of the Customs Department prosecuted, while counsel Ali Munawar Razak represented the accused.[1]