Malaysian jails house 68 Indians for possession of drugs
12 Nov, 2014Reply by the high commission of India in Kaula Lampur (Malaysia) to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that 68 Indians, mostly from Tamil Nadu, are held prisoners in Malaysia. The high commission of India in Kaula Lampur released names of the 68 Indians in jails arrested allegedly for possession and trafficking of dangerous drugs who were booked under the Dangerous Drug Prevention Act of Malaysia. Out of these 68 prisoners, 28 have been convicted by Malaysian courts and cases 40 have been remanded. These cases were booked between May 2008 and September 2014 mostly under Section 39B(1)(a) for dangerous drugs on the charge of drug possession, trafficking of drugs, drug use and consumption of excessive drugs.
In response to a parliamentary question, former minister of state for external affairs V K Singh had told the Rajya Sabha in July 2014 that there are 5,986 Indian nationals in foreign jails, 1,400 (23%) of them in Saudi Arabia. UAE is the second with 985 Indian inmates followed by Pakistan at 468, UK at 430, Nepal at 377, Malaysia at 332 and Kuwait at 274. The Minister had informed the parliament in the written reply that as per the records of the Indian high commission in Islamabad, there are 219 Indian civil prisoners are in Pakistani jails which is at variance with the figures provided by the Pakistani authorities. There are also cases of Indians numbering 71, who have completed their sentences and are waiting for completion of deportation formalities in foreign jails.