SINGAPORE (TIP): A Malaysian man of Indian origin has been sentenced to death by a court here for delivering heroin in Singapore and acting as a middleman for drug traffickers, according to a media report.

Kishor Kumar Raguan, 41, rode his motorcycle into Singapore to deliver a bag containing more than 900 grams of a powdery substance in July 2016. The four bundles inside the bag brought in were later analyzed to contain 36.5 grams of heroin. The law provides for the death penalty if the amount of heroin trafficked is more than 15 grams.

Singaporean national of Chinese-origin Pung Ah Kiang, 61, who received the bag from Raguan, was sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing the drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

In written grounds released on Friday, High Court Justice Audrey Lim said she found that both Raguan and Pung knew that the bundles contained heroin, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday.

Rejecting Raguan’s defense that he believed the bag contained “stones”, the judge said the Indian-origin man, who was involved in drug activities, had failed to show that he genuinely believed the bundles contained something innocuous.

She found that Kishor was told that the items to be delivered were “kallu”, which he knew referred to heroin.

Justice Lim also rejected Pung’s claim that he did not know what was in the bag and was merely keeping it temporarily for his brother-in-law. She imposed life imprisonment on Pung as he was certified by the prosecution to have substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in disrupting drug trafficking activities, the report said. “As the prosecution did not issue Kishor with a certificate of substantive assistance…I passed the mandatory death sentence on him,” it quoted the judge as saying. Raguan had brought the bag containing the bundles of drugs into Singapore on July 29, 2016 and delivered it to Pung near his Paya Lebar condominium.

Pung was arrested by CNB officers as he was walking back to his condominium. He was then escorted to his home, where more drugs were found. Raguan’s DNA was found on the bundles he delivered to Pung. The prosecution contended that Raguan knew he was delivering “kallu” – a street name for heroin – and was told to collect Singapore dollars 6,000 from Pung.

The prosecution said Raguan was no stranger to illegal drugs as he had acted as a middleman for drug transactions. In his defense, Raguan said he was promised USD 160 to deliver something to Singapore and was told that the item was “like a stone”. He claimed that he thought they could either be decorative stones or rocks and pebbles but did not think too much about it.

The convict claimed that he unraveled the black tape of the bundles but did not recognize the “brown-colored things” inside.