Mohamed Shalleh bin Abdul Latiff (1984 – 3 August 2023) was a Singaporean delivery driver who was found guilty and sentenced to death in January 2019 for one count of trafficking 54.04g of diamorphine. Mohamed Shalleh, who was arrested in August 2016, put up a defense that when he took the offer from a friend to deliver the packages of diamorphine, he misbelieved that the contents he delivered were contraband cigarettes instead of diamorphine.
However, the trial judge Hoo Sheau Peng rejected Mohamed Shalleh's claim and therefore sentenced him to the mandatory death penalty for diamorphine trafficking. Eventually, Mohamed Shalleh's appeals to overturn his conviction and sentence were dismissed, and he was executed on 3 August 2023, at the age of 39.
Biography
Mohamed Shalleh bin Abdul Latiff was born in Singapore in 1984.
Mohamed Shalleh began to consume drugs at age 14. He also went to prison for drug-related offences at one point in 2008, and spent time at drug rehabilitation centres. Prior to his arrest in 2016 for drug trafficking, Mohamed Shalleh was working as a freelance delivery driver (starting from 2015) and earned a monthly income of SGD$2,800. Aside from his delivery job, Mohamed Shalleh also worked as an illegal debt collector for a friend and through this job, he earned another monthly income of SGD$3,600 and SGD$4,000.
Drug trafficking trial
On 11 August 2016, during a covert operation by the Central Narcotics Bureau, 32-year-old Mohamed Shalleh was arrested for suspected drug trafficking activities. Earlier that day, Mohamed Shalleh paid a Malaysian man SGD$7,000 after he received three bundles of diamorphine and an orange plastic bag containing two packets of methamphetamine through the arrangement of a friend. Mohammed Shalleh, who went to Mei Ling Street in Queenstown to deliver the goods to another person, was arrested by the CNB officers. The Malaysian man, Khairul Nizam bin Ramthan, was arrested at the Woodlands Checkpoint.
The amount of diamorphine trafficked by Mohamed Shalleh weighed 54.04g, which was more than thrice the amount which mandated the death sentence under the Misuse of Drugs Act upon the conviction of the offender charged for trafficking at least 15g of this particular drug.
On 23 October 2018, Mohamed Shalleh stood trial at the High Court for a single charge of smuggling the diamorphine. In his account, Mohamed Shalleh stated that he thought he was just delivering contraband cigarettes on behalf of a friend named "Bai", and it was an offer he took to reduce some of the debt that Mohamed Shalleh owed him. Mohamed Shalleh recounted he first met Bai while in prison in 2008, but they lost contact. Both men became re-acquainted in 2014 at the Singapore Turf Club in Kranji, where Bai worked as a "bookie" and Mohamed Shalleh would make bets with Bai, which resulted in him owing Bai a debt of SGD$7,000. When Bai met Mohamed Shalleh once again at a friend's wedding in 2016, Bai told Mohamed Shalleh he allow him more time to discharge the debt, and Mohamed Shalleh accepted Bai's offer to deliver contraband cigarettes; the delivery he made prior to his arrest was the second time he helped Bai. Mohamed Shalleh stated he did not suspect the contents he delivered to be diamorphine instead of contraband cigarettes like Bai told him since he trusted Bai and therefore, he never verified the contents personally. Overall, Mohamed Shalleh's defence was that he was unaware of the presence of diamorphine in his possession and he was not guilty as charged.