Federal Court keeps taxi driver's death sentence over 937.8 g of cannabis
The Federal Court in Putrajaya on 5 August 2009 dismissed the final appeal of part-time pirate taxi driver M Kathavarayan, 60, affirming the death sentence for trafficking 937.8 grams of cannabis found under his car seat in Alor Setar in May 2000. The courts rejected his claim that a passenger could have left the drugs there.
The Federal Court in Putrajaya dismissed M Kathavarayan’s final appeal on 5
August 2009 and upheld his death sentence for trafficking937.8 grams of
cannabis.[1][2]The three-judge panel of Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak
Richard Malanjum, Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court
judge Hashim Yusoff agreed the prosecution had proved physical possession
and trafficking beyond the statutory presumption.[1]
Kathavarayan, 60, a part-time pirate taxi driver, was stopped while driving
his own car and found with the drugs in a bag under the driver’s seat on
Jalan Muktamar, Taman Sultan Abdul Halim, Alor Setar, on 31 May 2000.[1][2]The Alor Star High Courtconvicted him on 29 October 2003, and the
Court of Appeal later affirmed the conviction and sentence.[1][2]
His defence that a passenger in his pirate taxi could have placed the drugs
under the seat was raised only at the defence stage, and both appellate
courts rejected it, finding the drugs were in his custody and control with
knowledge on his part.[2]With the quantity above 200 grams, the
statutory presumption of trafficking applied, which he failed to rebut.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The news account dates the Court of Appeal dismissal to 12 March 2008 while the published law report of that appeal is dated 2 September 2008; the report uses neither date for the intermediate appeal.
Whether Kathavarayan sought clemency or further review after this final appeal is not covered in these sources.
No photograph of the accused or the proceedings with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
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.