One of the two car passengers in last month’s shooting near Shangri-La Hotel was sentenced to eight years’ jail and three strokes of the cane yesterday for possession and consumption of drugs.
Mohamed Ismail, 31, pleaded guilty to three charges and had seven other charges taken into consideration in his sentencing. He and fellow car passenger Muhammad Syahid Mohamed Yasin, 26, were initially charged with one count each of heroin trafficking on June 1.
Both were in a red Subaru Impreza driven by Mohamed Taufik Zahar in the early hours of May 31. Mohamed Taufik was shot dead by the police after he suddenly accelerated while being questioned at a checkpoint near Shangri-La Hotel — where a high-level security conference was being held — and endangered police officers. A bag containing drugs was found in the vehicle.
Yesterday, Mohamed Ismail pleaded guilty to possession of not less than 0.27g of heroin and not less than 1.41g of methamphetamine along Orange Grove Road on May 31, as well as consumption of morphine.
According to court documents, he had bought the heroin and methamphetamine at Geylang Lorong 15 on May 29 from someone called “Ah Boy”. He paid S$480 for the drugs.
For the morphine consumption charge, Mohamed Ismail admitted to consuming heroin in the toilet of his Marsiling Crescent home about eight hours before the shooting. He had heated and dissolved the heroin before injecting the mixture up his left arm with a syringe. His urine sample was found to contain morphine, the result of his body breaking down the heroin.
Mohamed Ismail was previously convicted of consuming methamphetamine, also known as “Ice”, in 2003, as well as of possessing a controlled drug in 2012. He was also admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre in 2012 for morphine consumption.
The other charges taken into consideration during sentencing included failure to report for urine tests and failure to stop at a police roadblock.
Muhammad Syahid, who was charged last week with an additional count of instigating Mohamed Taufik to act rashly and endanger the safety of two police officers, is expected to plead guilty tomorrow.
Muhammad Syahid, who also has previous drug-related offences, allegedly shouted “Jalan, jalan” at Mohamed Taufik, who crashed into a concrete barrier. If convicted of acting rashly to endanger the personal safety of others, he may be jailed up to six months and fined a maximum of S$2,500.
Source: www.todayonline.com
