Justice Lim Hock Leng handed down the sentence to Tai Chee Khiong, 51, after finding that the defence had failed to raise any reasonable doubt.

In his judgment, Lim said although it was Tai’s first offence, the volume of drugs seized was believed to be the largest in Sabah.

He said it exceeded the accumulated quantity of all five previous drug cases tried in the court over the past three years.

“The accused did not show any remorse and did not respond, nor did the defence counsel, despite being given the opportunity by the court to say something before sentence was meted out,” the judge said.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Hurman Hussain requested the court to consider imposing the death penalty, taking into account the quantity of drugs involved and the public interest.

Also appearing for the prosecution was deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Suriana.

Tai, represented by lawyer Darmin Achok, was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 on Oct 13, 2021, with trafficking 200kg of syabu in Kampung Batu Payung here at 7.30am on Sept 6, 2021.