Abdul bin Mohd Desa & Anor v Public Prosecutor

Appellant(s): Abdul Bin Mohd Desa

Respondent(s): Pendakwa Raya

• YA Datuk Supang Lian
• YA Datuk Hayatul Akmal binti Abdul Aziz
• YA Tuan Muniandy a/l Kannyappan

• The appellants were arrested during a police raid at a terrace house where they were discovered squatting in a room, observed by the raiding officer to be placing small plastic packets of drugs into a larger bag.
• Police seized 18.1 grams of a heroin and monoacetylmorphines mixture along with drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale and a heat sealer, found in the immediate proximity of the appellants.
• The High Court convicted the appellants of drug trafficking under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, sentencing them to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane.

• Whether the prosecution sufficiently proved the elements of possession (custody, control, and knowledge) and whether the High Court correctly evaluated the appellants' defense that they were mere drug users present at the scene to purchase drugs.
• Whether the High Court Judge committed a misdirection in law by applying a "presumption upon a presumption" to establish the trafficking charge, contrary to the landmark ruling in *Alma Nudo Atenza v PP*.
• Whether the High Court erred by requiring the appellants to rebut the findings of possession and knowledge on a balance of probabilities rather than merely raising a reasonable doubt.

• The Court upheld the finding of possession, concluding that the raiding officer’s direct observation of the appellants handling the drugs established exclusive custody and control, from which knowledge could be legally inferred.
• The Court set aside the trafficking conviction, ruling that the High Court Judge erred by invoking the statutory presumption of trafficking under Section 37(da) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 based on a "deemed" possession rather than an affirmative finding of fact.
• The conviction was substituted with the lesser offense of possession under Section 12(2) of the Act, and the sentence was reduced to 10 years' imprisonment from the date of arrest and 10 strokes of the cane.