Mohamed Isnin Saleh
| Mohamed Isnin Saleh | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1970 Singapore |
| 💀Died | 20 June 2003 (aged 33) Changi Prison, Singapore20 June 2003 (aged 33) |
| 💼 Occupation | Unknown |
| Criminal status | Executed |
Mohamed Isnin Saleh (1 January 1970 - 20 June 2003) was a Singaporean executed in Singapore for drug trafficking.[not verified in body] The 35 kilograms of heroin he was jointly convicted of trafficking holds the record for the largest amount of heroin by weight seized by authorities in Singapore.[not verified in body]
Arrest at Cascadale Condominium[edit]
On the afternoon of 17 August 2001, Central Narcotics Bureau officers had the Cascadale Condominium on the Upper Changi Road under surveillance. At 1:50pm, Azman bin Ismail was observed entering the condominium, then leaving about 15 minutes later. He travelled by taxi to Kranji MRT station, where after a while he received an Umbro branded bag from another person who had arrived in a van. Azman then left the station in another taxi, and at 3:10pm at the junction of Upper Changi Road East and Upper Changi Road North it was intercepted by Central Narcotics Bureau officers. Azman's bag was searched and found to contain 30 packets of heroin, where he was promptly arrested. The keys to the apartment at the Cascadale Condominium and $42,364 in cash was also recovered from him.
At 3:35 pm, Ruzaini Ajis was arrested at on the driveway of the condominium, and after officers stormed the apartment Mohamed Isnin Saleh was arrested in its master bedroom at 3:43pm. Azman and Ruzaini were taken to the apartment and the search for narcotics began. 23 packets of heroin were found concealed in the ceiling of the master bedroom toilet and another 20 packets of heroin were discovered hidden in the ceiling of the kitchen toilet. These 43 packets contained a total of 113 grams of pure heroin. Smaller amounts, containing 0.68 grams of pure heroin, was found in a plastic bowl and in an unsealed sachet in the apartment, and in a loose pile of heroin on the floor of the master bedroom.
Statements to Police[edit]
In cautioned statements, Azman claimed that on the day of the arrest he received a call from a Malaysian friend he knows as 'Brother', who instructed him to go to Cascadale condominium to collect the keys to unit #02-02 from the letter box. He was to go to the kitchen of the apartment, collect a black bag holding more than $40,000 and go to Kranji MRT station where he was to meet a person and exchange the money for a bag. He retrieved the money and then took a taxi to Kranji MRT station. On the way there he received a call from Brother that he was not to give the money to the person at the station. At the station, he met with a Chinese man who arrived in a van. That person placed the bag in front of him and then left. Azman took the bag and boarded another taxi to go back to Upper Changi Road. While Azman was in the taxi Brother called again and told him that someone would collect the money and the bag from him at the lobby of Cascadale condominium, but he was arrested before reaching his destination. Azman said that he had worked for Brother on a previous occasion collecting VCDs. He previously went to Kranji MRT station and collected two bags from a man and he delivered them to Brother at Beach Road and was paid $2000 for doing so. Three days prior to his arrest, Brother asked if he could deliver VCDs for him again, and Azman agreed.
Making a statement under caution, Ruzaini claimed he was waiting for his friend Azman as they had arranged to meet at the garden of Cascadale condominium and go to Orchard Road. He had not gone into the apartment and the drugs in the apartment did not belong to him, and he did not know anything about them. He also pointed out he was arrested at the car park and not in the condominium itself, and he was not in possession of any drugs when arrested.
When Isnin was first questioned on the day of arrest he stated that he did not know who the drugs in the apartment belonged to. However, he later made cautioned statements that on the morning of the day of arrest he received a telephone call from Ruzaini. Ruzaini said he needed his help, which he understood to be to pack drugs. That afternoon Azman also called him. Azman asked if he was going to "the place" and said Ruzaini would be there, but he did not name the place. Isnin decided to check with a friend he called Brother who had instructed him to send food and provisions to the apartment as well as to pack drugs there on earlier occasions. When he telephoned Brother, he was told to buy some drinks to the apartment and to pack drugs. He added that Brother did not inform him of the amount of the drugs or their whereabouts.
He entered the empty apartment at about 2:45 pm, and in the master bedroom and saw a bowl of heroin and some heroin on the floor. He started to pack the heroin, and about half an hour later, he heard some noise outside the apartment’s main door and saw some men outside. He placed a chair against the door to prevent it from being opened, and tried to flush the sachets of heroin down the toilet bowl. He was unable to do so after the officers entered the apartment and arrested him. He only knew about the drugs in the master bedroom, and did not know of the other drugs recovered in the apartment. The drugs did not belong to him, and he did not know if they belonged to Azman or Ruzaini.
Isnin further stated that he had been to the apartment on other occasions prior to his arrest. On the first occasion, about two weeks earlier, he brought provisions and a sound system there on Brother’s instructions. When he arrived at the apartment Ruzaini and his girlfriend Rose were at the apartment. He deposited the things he brought, and left without packing any drugs. Two or three days later he went to the apartment again on the instructions of Brother who had told him to pack drugs. On this occasion he gained entry with keys taken from the letter box. There was no one else there. He packed 50 sachets of heroin in the master bedroom and left. On 16 August 2001, the day before his arrest, Brother instructed him to pack drugs in the apartment again. On this occasion, Ruzaini let him in. Azman was also there, and the three of them packed drugs together.
Isnin stated that he had gone to the apartment three times to pack drugs. When he was there alone in the apartment to pack drugs on the first occasion he checked some areas of the apartment, in the course of which he touched the ceiling of the kitchen, the kitchen toilet and the master bedroom toilet for drugs, but he did not find any drugs. Isnin described Brother as an Indian Muslim, with a mobile phone number of 90223824. When he was shown the photograph of Ismadi bin Kasban (the subscriber of telephone 90223824), he responded that he did not know that person or his name
Trial[edit]
The prosecution submitted evidence of fingerprints being found on the false ceiling boards of the master bedroom toilet and the kitchen toilet false ceiling, where the 23 and 20 packets of heroin were concealed. When the prints were examined, the fingerprint on the false ceiling board of the master bedroom toilet were ascertained to be Isnin’s, and those on the false ceiling board of the kitchen toilet was Azman’s.
A statement by Ruzaini's girlfriend Rohaizan binte Buang (also known as Rose) admitted in evidence detailed how, in late July 2001, Ruzaini had asked her to rent an apartment for him to stay with his friends. She then took up the tenancy of a Cascadale condominium apartment and paid the deposit and rental with money provided by Ruzaini. When she received the apartment keys she handed them to Ruzaini, and a few days later she went to the apartment and saw Azman was in the living room.
In regards to the mysterious man known as 'Brother', all three of the accused described him differently. Azman described the Brother as a Malaysian Malay, whereas the Brother Isnin dealt was an Indian Muslim, and according to Ruzaini, Brother is a Malaysian Chinese Muslim.
Verdict[edit]
On 12 August 2002, Isnin, Azman and Ruzaini were found guilty as charged and sentenced to death for the trafficking of 113 grams of pure heroin, contrary to Section 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Judge Kan Ting Chiu ruled they were all in possession of the drugs in the apartment for the common intention of trafficking.[1]
Appeals[edit]
On 14 October 2002, the Appeal court rejected the 3 men's appeal against their convictions, dismissing their argument that there was insufficient evidence to show that they were in possession of the 113 grams of pure heroin in the Cascadale apartment or that there was a common intention in relation to drug trafficking.[2]
Execution[edit]
Mohamed Isnin Saleh, Azman Ismail and Ruzaini Ajis were all hanged at Changi Prison on the morning of the 20th of June 2003. [3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Public Prosecutor v Azman bin Ismail and Others [2002] SGHC 178, High Court (Singapore).
- ↑ Azman bin Ismail and Others v Public Prosecutor [2002] SGCA 44, Court of Criminal Appeal (Singapore).
- ↑ "Three men hanged for drug crimes". The Straits Times. 21 June 2003.
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