Kota Kinabalu: A 43-year-old Filipino illegal was jailed three years and given three strokes of the cane for having 31gm of syabu.
Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan meted out the sentence to Saldi Nasar who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
Saldi was in possession of the drug at 2.15pm on Jan 8 this year near a hill in Taman Intan, Bundusan, Penampang.
The offence under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act and punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act carries a jail between five years and life imprisonment, and whipping of at least 10 strokes, on conviction.
The court ordered Saldi to serve the jail sentence from the date of his arrest and referred to the Immigration Department after serving the jail sentence.
During mitigation, Saldi who was not represented, asked for leniency saying that he has five children and two of them are still small, to look after.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Francis urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as it was a serious offence.
