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Singapore: Man gets 13 years' jail and caning for trafficking cannabis when he was an 18-year-old polytechnic student Lydia Lam Channel News Asia Friday 04 Aug 2023 A man was sentenced to 13 years' jail and eight strokes of the cane on Friday (Aug 4) for helping his supplier collect and sell cannabis in exchange for 30 per cent of the profits. At the time of the offences, he was an 18-year-old polytechnic student. Kwan Jun Yan, now 23, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of trafficking cannabis and consuming a cannabinol derivative. A third charge was taken into consideration while a fourth charge was withdrawn. The court heard that Kwan, a Singaporean, started smoking cannabis or "weed" in April 2017 after a friend introduced him to it. He and his friend would share the drug, with 10g of weed worth S$120 lasting them both about two weeks. Kwan said he smoked weed because he thought it was a "cool habit" and would impress those around him. After Kwan's friend got arrested in late-2017, Kwan briefly stopped smoking the drug. However, he started again after approaching a cannabis supplier in June 2018 for a job to earn quick cash. The supplier offered Kwan 30 per cent of the profits if he agreed to help collect and supply cannabis to his clients. Kwan agreed as he needed cash to fund his "extravagant expenses", said the prosecution. These were for cigarettes, football match betting and liquor. Kwan and his supplier - who was not named in court documents - would communicate via phone calls and WhatsApp chats, with Kwan using a prepaid SIM card his supplier gave him. Kwan would collect consignments of cannabis from unidentified people on his supplier's instructions, before repacking it into smaller pieces into resealable bags. He would deliver the cannabis to his supplier's clients, collect payment and hand the money to his supplier, who would then pay him 30 per cent of the profits. On Jul 11, 2018, Kwan collected two blocks of cannabis from an unknown Indian man at a bus stop along Gul Crescent. He placed the blocks in his haversack, which already contained 15 packets of cannabis left over from a previous collection, and waited for further instructions from his supplier. However, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) had caught wind of the transaction. A party of CNB officers arrested Kwan at the bus stop and found the drugs on him, along with a digital weighing scale, a penknife for cutting the drugs and multiple resealable bags. In total, at least 480.79g of cannabis was found on the teenager. He was taken to his flat in Kim Tian Road, where a search of his bedroom uncovered more drug exhibits and paraphernalia. A cannabinol derivative was found in Kwan's urine samples. He said he had last smoked weed on the morning of his last collection, and that he felt stress-free after smoking it, a feeling that lasted him two to three hours. Kwan's supplier was also arrested that same day. The prosecution sought 13 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane for Kwan, who has no prior convictions, based on the quantity of drugs trafficked - 329.99g of cannabis. The indicative starting sentence for such an amount is 15 years, said the prosecutor. HE WAS ONLY 18: DEFENCE Defence lawyer Wee Hong Shern asked for two fewer strokes of the cane but agreed on the jail term. He said this was a case where "we are presented with polar extremes - where on the one hand, the client was at a tender age of 18, but he had committed a very serious offence". Mr Wee said he had been on this case since 2019. He said he had to highlight that Kwan was just 18 when he committed the offences. "In light of the fact that he is still 23, a very young age, the principle of deterrence should not come too far forward. There's more room for rehabilitation to take centre stage," he said. He also said his client was suffering from adjustment disorder and depressive symptoms. The lawyer said in his written mitigation plea that Kwan had mixed with the wrong company during his polytechnic days and was introduced to cannabis, which he became addicted to. Kwan is the younger of two brothers. His mother attended the hearing on Friday, listening anxiously to the proceedings. JUDGE'S DECISION Principal District Judge Jill Tan told Kwan that it was most unfortunate that he fell in bad company. "I note that you have spent five years in remand already, and I trust that you have used this time to reflect on the error of your ways and think about how you can walk the right path upon your release," she said, to Kwan's nods. The judge said the correct starting point would be 15 years and 11 strokes of the cane, before adjusting for any aggravating and mitigating factors. On the aggravating factors, Judge Tan said Kwan was actively assisting his supplier to traffic in drugs, sharing in 30 per cent of the profits and using the money to bet on football matches as well as smoke and drink. "On balance, my view is that your youth must be given substantial mitigating weight in sentencing you, despite the aggravating factors," she said, giving the sentence the defence had sought. For trafficking a Class A controlled drug, Kwan could have been jailed for between five and 20 years, and given five to 15 strokes of the cane. Source: CNA/ll(ac) https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/poly-student-traffic-cannabis-weed-13-years-jail-caning-3677281
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