by Khushwant Singh
MOHAMMED Rashidi Ramli found a packet of white crystals and a
pipe in the hotel room he shared with six other bodyguards while on
assignment in Kuala Lumpur last October. The 28-year-old Malaysian
kept these items in his sling bag with the intention of reporting
his find to his supervisor,
However, in his rush to meet a friend in Singapore, he forgot to
leave these items behind and they were discovered in his bag when
he drove across the Causeway at 2.15am on Oct 10.
In a district court on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to drug
possession. Pleading for leniency, defence counsel Christopher
Bridges said that his client was not a drug user, a fact confirmed
by the results of the urine test conducted immediately after the
arrest. Mohammed Rashidi's supervisor had also corroborated the
bodyguard's account in an interview with officers of the Central
Narcotics Bureau, added the lawyer.
Noting the special circumstances in this case, District Judge
Hamidah Ibrahim imposed a five-month jail sentence. 'This is as
lenient as the court can go,' she told the tall, burly man with a
shaven head standing in the dock. While the maximum sentence is a
$20,000 fine and a 10-year jail term, the sentences meted out by
the courts on first offenders is usually between eight and 10
months.
Mr Bridges said that Mohammed Rashidi was hired as a security
escort officer for tennis players at the Kuala Lumpur 2010 Showdown
of Champions on Oct 6 to 9 last year, featuring tennis
personalities such as Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Pat Cash and
Martina Hingis.
When Mohammed Rashidi went to collect his belongings from the
hotel room to check out, he discovered a glass pipe and an empty
packet left next to the mini bar.