Two women jailed for life for drug trafficking

A Malaysian kindergarten teacher who tried to take a suitcase containing almost 1.9kg of methamphetamine or Ice out of Singapore - with her seven- month-old baby in tow - was jailed for life yesterday.

Komal Rihan Nand Kumar, 31, had been hysterical when she was stopped at Woodlands Checkpoint three years ago. Yesterday, she broke down in tears during sentencing in the High Court.

Also sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking was Ghanaian mother of three Fauziya Mohammed, 35, who passed the bag to Komal at a hotel in Desker Road.

Both were spared the death penalty after they were issued certificates stating that they had substantively helped disrupt drug trafficking activities.

Fauziya testified that she travelled from Ghana to Niger to meet a man called "Young" who would help her ailing clothes business if she went on a trip for him. At his home, Young told her to pack her clothes into a suitcase.

Young checked in the bag at the airport and gave her air tickets, a SIM card and US$3,000. She flew to Morocco, then Doha. She arrived in Singapore on Feb 20, 2012 and checked into a hotel.

The next day, she was told by Young over the phone that someone wearing a green T-shirt and carrying a baby would collect the bag from her at the hotel.

That evening, Komal collected the suitcase. She then took a taxi from Queen Street to Malaysia. The cabby helped her put the suitcase in the boot as she was carrying the baby.

At the checkpoint, the taxi was stopped. As the suitcase was being searched, Komal started crying loudly, claiming it was not her bag.

She started having breathing difficulties and tried to bite her tongue. The checkpoint officers tried to calm her down.

The suitcase was found to contain close to 1.9kg of Ice.

Fauziya's defence was that she did not know the bag held drugs.

Komal claimed her Nigerian husband had asked her to collect the bag. She said she trusted him even though he had previously told her to collect a bag containing white powder in Cambodia.

Her child is now at a welfare home in Malaysia.

selinal@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 19, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.