Federal Court Upholds Man’s 30-year Jail Term And Whipping For Drug Trafficking

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court today upheld the conviction and 30-year prison sentence, along with 12 strokes of the cane, imposed on an unemployed man for trafficking nearly 740 grammes of methamphetamine.

A three-member panel led by Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Farid Wan Salleh unanimously dismissed the final appeal by Liau Vui Pin, 40.

"There is no appealable error by the High Court and Court of Appeal, the conviction is safe,” he said in affirming the conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court.

Sitting with him were Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Nordin Hassan.

Liau, a Sabahan, who had previously worked as a driver and cook, was found guilty by the High Court on September 15, 2023, for trafficking 738.77 grammes of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with 12 strokes of the cane. At the time of his arrest, Liau was unemployed.

The Court of Appeal had rejected his appeal on September 12, 2024.

The offence took place at the scanner machine area in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor at 1.15 pm on Sept 16, 2019.

According to the facts of the case, a patrolling police officer noticed Liau behaving suspiciously and walking in an uncomfortable manner. The officer instructed an auxiliary police stationed at the scanning machine to request Liau to remove his shoes.

The inspection revealed two white, cello-taped packages concealed inside the heels of both shoes. Liau also produced another similarly wrapped package from his underwear.  He was immediately detained, and the items were seized.

In his defence, Liau claimed that a man named Anson had told him the packages contained "elephant tooth powder" (serbuk gigi gajah).

At today’s hearing, Liau was represented by lawyer Goh Cia Yee, while deputy public prosecutor Faizal@Amrin Noor Hadi appeared for the prosecution.

-- BERNAMA