IPOH, Sept 9 — A businessman was sentenced to 30 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane by the High Court here today after being found guilty of two counts of trafficking more than 77 kilogrammes (kg) of methamphetamine five years ago.

Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed handed down the sentence to Liew Wan Wah, 46, after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt at the end of the defence case.

The court sentenced him to 30 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane for the first and second counts respectively.

However, the court ordered that both sentences run concurrently from the date of arrest, while the cane sentence was 24 strokes.

According to the first charge, Liew is accused of distributing 74,477.8 grammes (74.48 kg) of methamphetamine, at the Gopeng Toll Plaza, towards the entrance to the highway before the toll payment counter, in the Kampar district at about 7.30 pm, June 23, 2021.

For the second charge, he is accused of distributing 3,267 grammes (3.27 kg) of the same drug in the parking area under the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Division Office, Kampar district police headquarters (IPD) at about 2 am, June 24, 2021.

The charge was brought under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code and is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same act, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment life with whipping not less than 15 times.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Yasinnisa Begam Seeni Mohideen, while the accused was represented by lawyer P. Ravee. — Bernama