A view of the Singapore skyline next to the Supreme Court in Singapore on July 1, 2019. Picture taken July 1, 2019. Photo by Reuters
Singapore has executed a 39-year-old man convicted of smuggling heroin, the city-state’s fifth hanging this year and the third in just over a week, authorities said Thursday.
Mohamed Shalleh Adul Latiff was sentenced to death for possessing approximately 55 grams of heroin “for the purpose of trafficking” in 2019.
His sentence was carried out on Thursday, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a statement.
According to court documents, Mohamed Shalleh worked as a delivery driver before his arrest in 2016. During his trial, he claimed he believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes to a friend to whom he owed money.
He became the 16th prisoner sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The execution comes less than a week after Singapore executed the first woman in nearly 20 years for drug trafficking.
Saridewi Binte Djamani, a 45-year-old Singaporean, was executed on Friday for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.
A local man, Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, 57, had been hanged two days earlier for trafficking around 50 grams of heroin.
The wealthy financial hub has some of the toughest drug laws in the world – trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or more than 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.
