Coconut milk seller sentenced to death for 208 g of cannabis in Penang
The George Town High Court sentenced coconut milk seller R Siva Raman, 48, to death for trafficking 208 grams of cannabis at a food court in Bukit Mertajam. The judge said the court had no choice but to impose death after the prosecution asked for the capital sentence.
🇲🇾 Fresh Food Court, Jalan Rozhan Alma, Bukit Mertajam, Penang · Malaysia
On 30 September 2020, the George Town High Court sentenced R Siva Raman, a 48-year-old coconut milk (santan) seller, to death for trafficking208 grams of cannabis.[1][2]He had been charged with trafficking the drug in front of the Fresh Food Court at Jalan Rozhan Alma in Bukit Mertajam at about 8.15pm on 16 January 2018.[1]
The sentence
Judicial Commissioner Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid said the court had no other choice but to impose the death sentence, finding that Siva Raman had failed to raise a reasonable doubt that he was in actual possession of the drugs.[1]When the judge asked both sides to address whether life imprisonment was possible, Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Saw Sim asked for death, saying life was reserved for convicts who helped disrupt trafficking and there was no evidence Siva Raman had assisted any enforcement agency.[1]Says estimated the street value of the 208 grams at about RM2,000, based on a going price of RM100 per 10 grams.[1]
A wider pattern
Months later, VICE World News cited the Penang food-court case as another September death sentence for selling cannabis, alongside medical-cannabis campaigners facing the same punishment.[3]Green Flower likewise recorded that the Indian coconut milk seller caught with slightly over 200 grams in 2018 was sentenced to death in September 2020.[4]
Photos and video
Siva Raman escorted by police officers on 30 September 2020. Photo by Danial Saad/New Straits Times via SaysPhoto details
On 19 October 2026 the Sibu High Court sentenced Tiong Soon Hieng, 41, to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for trafficking 5,081.06 g of cannabis. Judge Wong Siong Tung declined the death penalty and dated the term from his arrest on 6 January 2023 outside a coffee shop in Bintangor.
Cannabis 5.081 kgPrison life imprisonment and 12 strokes
Kuala Lumpur High Court on 29 September 2026 sentenced Dasham Novada Wickramathunga, 33, to 10 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge over about 2.57 kg of cannabis found at a Jalan Ipoh residence in April 2024.
S. Mohan, 38, and Ahmad Shamil Abdul Rashid, 28, were sentenced to 30 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane for trafficking 139 kg of cannabis from a Bangsar car park in 2022. The judge found the case proven beyond reasonable doubt; the prosecution had sought the heavy term over the quantity.
Malaysia's Federal Court reinstated the trafficking convictions and 30-year sentences of Azril Azhar Ahmad and Zulfattar Md Ridzuan for 264.36 g of cannabis, after the Court of Appeal had reduced the charge to possession. Both had been released in February 2026.