Justice Bhupindar Singh acquitted Chan Shi Wei, 29, and Lim Chan Hau, 30, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to secure the attendance of a witness it had earlier offered to the defence.

The judge said lawyers representing Chan and Lim had made it clear that they required the witness’s testimony.

“This failure placed the defence in a disadvantageous position,” he said in his oral ruling today.

Bhupindar also found that the prosecution made insufficient efforts to trace the witness and had only attempted to do so at the eleventh hour, despite earlier confirming to the court that the witness was in the country.

He further said the prosecution failed to effectively cross-examine Chan and Lim on material aspects of their defence.

The judge also found there was serious doubts as to whether the two men had exclusive custody and control of the drugs to sustain the amended possession charge at the close of the prosecution’s case.

Initially, both men were charged with trafficking 51.5kg of methamphetamine, or syabu, and 98.25kg of heroin.

The offences were allegedly committed at a house along Jalan Sepah Puteri 5/2 in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, at about 10am on Oct 5, 2020.

Chan, represented by Amirul Jamaluddin, testified that he had gone to the house after being instructed by his employer to collect detergent and bottled water stored there for use at the restaurant.

Lim corroborated Chan’s account throughout the trial.

Testimony from the raiding officer also confirmed that detergent and bottled water were found at the premises.

Chan said he was not a registered tenant of the house when police arrested him in the living room. The drugs were discovered in one of the rooms.

In his defence, Lim said he was detained by another police team at a security guard post about 100 metres from the house.

Lawyers Damien Chan, Joshua Kevin and Ian Hannibal represented Lim, who was the registered tenant of the house.