Rusli bin Sembayang, 44, was tried for trafficking 1,100.2 grams of cannabis found in his possession at Blk 125 Hougang Avenue 1 on 11 April 2002, an amount that attracted the mandatory death penalty.[1] Central Narcotics Bureau officers acting on a lead demanded entry at about 1.20 a.m.; Rusli briefly emerged from the master bedroom, apologised and withdrew, then climbed down the rear of the block and fled.[1] Officers chased him from a taxi outside Blk 114 to Geylang Serai, where he was arrested after resistance.[1]
On the ground floor officers recovered a white plastic bag holding a brown slab of drugs and a broken paper cutter, three more slabs and a square block nearby, plus pieces of a broken mobile phone; analysis put the cannabis at 1,100.2 grams, and loose fragments plus transaction records were found inside the flat.[2] Rusli claimed the drugs belonged to a childhood friend named Ahmad who had brought them to the flat, but the trial judge found Ahmad a complete fabrication, noting Rusli could give no address, number or whereabouts for him.[2]
Sentence upheld
The trial judge held that the prosecution had proved trafficking beyond a reasonable doubt: Rusli’s own statements repeatedly described cutting, weighing and packing cannabis, and his notes used a code word for the drug.[2] With more than 15 grams in his possession the presumption of trafficking applied, and the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death.[2] The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on 12 March 2003, accepting that Ahmad did not exist and that the conviction could rest on the retracted confessions.[2]
