Former ASEAN Para Games gold medallist Muhammad Firdaus Nordin, a wheelchair sprinter, has been taken to court for drug trafficking, which he denies.
The trial for the 28-year-old started yesterday, where a district court heard that the wheelchair-bound athlete was allegedly found in possession of three packets of a crystalline substance containing no less than 2.65g of methamphetamine at about 5am on Feb 2 last year. Firdaus was then in a car driven by his cousin at a heavy-vehicle carpark near Block 510, Bedok North Street 3.
The police came across the drugs, better known as “ice”, while tracking down suspects in a separate drunken assault that occurred in the vicinity that morning. His cousin was one of those involved in that incident. TODAY understands that Firdaus, though intoxicated, was not involved in the attack.
A second charge of drug consumption has been stood down, pending resolution of the trial, which is scheduled to end this Friday.
Policeman Narizh Khan, a station inspector at the Bedok North Neighbourhood Police Centre who accompanied Firdaus from the scene to Changi General Hospital for assessments, testified yesterday that Firdaus had repeatedly said he “did not want (his) mother to know about his drug offences”. Disputing this, defence lawyer Peter Fernando said what his client said was that he did not want his mother to be informed of the arrest. If found guilty of drug trafficking, Firdaus faces between five and 20 years’ jail, and between five and 15 strokes of the cane.
Firdaus was born with spina bifida, a defect where the developing spinal column does not close properly, leaving nerves exposed. He is one of the fastest wheelchair sprinters in Singapore, clinching a gold medal in the men’s 100m race at the third ASEAN Para Games in 2005 and setting a new Games record for the 200m event at the IPC Athletics World Championships the following year. This won him a silver medal and earned the Republic its first entry into the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Firdaus had to pull out later because of injury.
During the ASEAN Para Games last December, Muhammad Firdaus competed in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
Source: TODAY Online
