PUTRAJAYA, Dec 26 — The Court of Appeal today upheld the death sentence given to former Thai male prostitute for trafficking 1.3kg of methamphetamine by hiding the drug in five packages of Indian saree in his luggage at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, four years ago.

Three-man panel chaired by Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Thanakorn Sinsanoi, 26, to set aside his conviction and death sentence passed by the Shah Alam High Court on Nov 30, 2016.

Justice Tengku Maimun who presided over the appeal with justices Datuk Yaacob Md Sam and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang said the High Court judge had not erred in making the decision, and hence it was safe to uphold the conviction and sentence.

"The appeal is hereby dismissed. The conviction and sentence upheld,” Tengku Maimun said after hearing the submissions by lawyer Muhammad Hidhir Mustapa representing the appellant and deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Azmi Mashud.

Thanakorn, who worked as sexual service provider in Pattaya, Thailand, was found guilty of trafficking the drug at the Passenger Inspection Branch 2, LCCT in Sepang, upon arrival from Kolkata, India, at 1 am on July 13, 2013.

The offence under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

According to his statement of defence, Thanakorn claimed to have gone to India on the invitation of his friend named "May”, who is a pimp in India, but after spending several days at May’s house and failed to secure any job, May proposed that he should return to Thailand.

According to the appellant, all his travel arrangement was handled by May and the woman had even packed several pieces of Indian saree meant for her family members in Thailand.

Based on the facts of the case, the appellant had knowledge of the drugs found hidden in the saree as in his testimony he admitted to have helped May in packing and folding the clothes into cylinder shape.

The authority detained the appellant at the LCCT after detecting suspicious content in his luggage and upon inspection found several clothes, personal items and eight cylinder-shaped packages of Indian saree.

Further inspection found five of the packages also contained white crystallised substance verified as methamphetamine.

The Shah Alam High Court in passing the sentence ruled that Thanakorn’s friend named "May” and the story that the saree were given to him by the woman, were merely fabricated.

The judge also said the man’s statement that he had no knowledge and control of the packages packed by May was unacceptable as he had the chance the check the content of the packages. — Bernama