Is Safekeeping Drug Trafficking? The Singapore Court of Appeal’s Attempt to Delineate Role and Culpability in Drug Trafficking Offenses

Singapore is well known for its harsh stance against drug traffickers, with trafficking carrying some of the most severe penalties available in law. This includes mandatory death penalty where weight exceeds a statutory threshold. The act also broadly defined Misuse Drugs Act 1973 and can encompass wide range activities. In series authoritative decisions since 1994, this has included safekeeping drugs another. However, Court Appeal revisited definition recent decision Ramesh a/l Perumal v Public Prosecutor [2019] 1 SLR 1003, finding that does not fall under “trafficking.” As paper argues, new an attempt by to better delineate varying roles culpability those involved trade, but will have future implications prosecutions enforcement.