Central Narcotics Bureau officers arrested Malaysian national Ramis a/l Muniandy, 30, at Marsiling Industrial Estate Road 2 at about 7.55 am on 12 August 2000 after acting on a tip about a morning cannabis transaction.[1][2] Officers watched him ride in on a Malaysian-registered Honda motorcycle, park beside Block 7 and walk to the front of the block, where five officers arrested him after he used a mobile phone.[1][2]
Under a blue raincoat on the motorcycle’s carrier, officers found a Puma sports bag holding two compressed blocks of greenish vegetable matter in a Fuji Grand plastic bag.[1][2] Laboratory tests found the blocks contained 1,529.8 grams nett of cannabis, far above the 500-gram threshold carrying the mandatory death penalty.[1][2] Ramis denied the bag was his and said he had come from Johor that morning to meet a friend about work, but the trial judge found the cannabis had remained in his possession throughout and rejected the claim that someone else could have planted it.[1]
Trial and appeal
Judicial Commissioner Choo Han Teck convicted Ramis of trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act and imposed the mandatory death sentence on 23 February 2001.[1][2] Ramis appealed, arguing the trial judge wrongly accepted the officers’ identification and possession evidence, but the Court of Appeal held there was no reason to disturb the findings and dismissed the appeal on 3 August 2001.[2]
