Indian-origin man gets 13 years jail for possessing cannabis in Singapore
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jan, 2023 12:19 PM
Singapore, Jan 10 (IANS) An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 13 years in jail and 10 strokes of the cane for possessing 523.6g of cannabis for trafficking in Singapore.
Narkkeeran Arasan, 45, who pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking controlled drugs, admitted during the probe that he was facing financial stress and wanted to sell cannabis to get fast cash, The Straits Times reported.
The Central Narcotics Bureau acted on information received and arrested Narkkeeran in Woodlands while he was a passenger in a Grab car on April 12, 2021.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tessa Tan said during the search of the car a block of vegetable matter wrapped in several layers of plastic which was taped up was found in the bag.
In July 2021, Health Sciences Authority after analysis certified that the vegetable matter was cannabis weighing at least 523.6g.
At least 413.6g of fragmented vegetable matter from the same block was also found to contain cannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinol, a cannabinol derivative.
"The mixture of vegetable matter (stated) above, weighing not less than 937.2g, was therefore cannabis mixture," Tan was quoted as saying in the paper.
The court was told that Narkkeeran ordered one "book of cannabis", which he understood to mean 1 kg in weight, on April 11, 2021, from a contact known to him as "R and R".
He paid $3,000 for it, the paper reported.
An offender may be jailed for between five and 20 years, and may receive between five and 15 strokes of the cane for possessing at least 329.99g of cannabis for trafficking.
The 33-year-old will pull all her kit and supplies on a sledge (pulk), weighing around 120kg (19 stone) at the start of her epic journey in November, while battling temperatures of -50c and wind speeds of up to 60mph. "I expect the journey to take approximately 75 days. Having done 700 miles to the South Pole, I know I can do 1,100 miles," Chandi, a physiotherapist with the British Army, said.
Three Sikh recruits, working to join the US Marine Corps, fought for an emergency appeal in District of Columbia's federal court to get an immediate exemption to the Corps' boot camp rule of cutting their hair and shaving their beards. The three plaintiffs -- Aekash Singh, Milaap Singh Chahal, and Jaskirat Singh -- want to attend Marine Corps basic training without having to shave their beards or forgo their turbans.
The bodies of eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36, and her uncle Amandeep Singh, 39 were found in an "extremely remote" area near the intersection of Indiana and Hutchins roads. Jesus Salgado is said to have had a long-standing feud with the family and was a former employee in their trucking business.
Indian-origin people across the US have often been targets of robbers because they are believed to have lots of jewellery. The four, who had been under surveillance, were caught in another suburb, New Hyde Park, where they had targeted a house after following a woman, police said.
Claudio Campos, 28, attacked Avtar Singh in broad daylight as he was walking home from work through the Tib Street area of the City Centre on June 23. Campos, who was with his partner at the time, proceeded to walk up behind Avtar before violently punching him to the head. Singh fell into the middle of the road where he stayed unconscious until a passer-by called for an ambulance.
Quoting hate crime statistics 2021-22, Gill, an MP from Birmingham, said hate crimes against Sikhs rose by 169 per cent in comparison to a 38 per cent increase in reported religious hate crimes overall. The 2001 census recorded 336,000 Sikhs living in Britain. Gill said 301 hate crimes against Sikhs were reported in 2021-22, up from 112 in 2020-2021.
