It also maintained the High Court’s order made in 2023 that Shabudin Yusoff, 32, and Amirul Asri Shaari, 33, receive 15 strokes of the rotan.

Delivering the court’s oral grounds for dismissing their appeals, Justice Azman Abdullah said both men had custody, control and knowledge of the drugs as they were dealing with an agent provocateur, as provided for under Section 40 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

“There is no reason why the evidence of the agent provocateur should not be believed,” he said, adding that the testimony of such a witness did not require corroboration.

Azman said the trial judge had considered all defences raised by the accused and did not commit any error of law that would warrant intervention by the appellate court.

Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Noorin Badaruddin were also on the panel hearing the appeal.

Shabudin and Amirul had been found guilty of jointly committing the offence at a supermarket’s car park in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, at about 5.20pm on Aug 27, 2020.

Deputy public prosecutor Tertralina Ahmed Fauzi appeared for the prosecution, while lawyer N Sivananthan represented the two accused.