Convicted drug importer Omar Yacob Bamadhaj was hanged on April 16 for bringing 1,009.1g of cannabis into Singapore in July 2018.
The 46-year-old Singaporean was convicted of the capital offence on Feb, 24, 2021. His conviction and sentence were upheld by the Court of Appeal on Oct 12, 2021.
Capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, such as the importation or trafficking of significant quantities of drugs.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the offence of importation of more than 500g of cannabis is punishable with the death penalty.
The cannabis seized from Omar is sufficient to feed the addiction of about 144 abusers for a week.
Omar had claimed that he was threatened by officers and that he did not know the nature of the bundles found in a bag in his car when it was checked by an auxiliary police officer at Woodlands Checkpoint.
The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a statement on April 16 that it is aware several allegations have been made in relation to Omar’s case.
Omar had driven a car from Malaysia to the checkpoint on July 12, 2018. A routine check on the car uncovered a bag belonging to him.
Three bundles wrapped in aluminium foil, cling wrap and newspaper were found inside the bag, said CNB in its statement.
The bundles sent to the Health Sciences Authority for analysis were found to contain not less than 1,009.1g of cannabis.
At his trial, Omar claimed that he did not know the nature of the bundles found in the car.
He also alleged that an officer had threatened to slap him if he did not confess to owning the bundles, and that another officer had threatened to throw a pen at him and to hang both Omar and his father if he refused to cooperate.
Read the full article at The Straits Times
