S'pore hangs 2 for drug trafficking

S'pore hangs 2 for drug trafficking

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore hanged two men on Friday for
drug trafficking, a prison official said.

Singaporean Loh Kim Cheng, 31, and Malaysian Mohd Ariff Bin
Mat Rifin, 39, were sentenced to death for drug trafficking in
1997 and 1996 respectively, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in
a statement.

The city-state executed 16 people in 1997 for various
offenses, at least 10 of them for drug trafficking. Friday's
execution brings the number of people hanged so far this year to
10, of whom eight were drug traffickers.

Singapore's tough antidrug laws include a mandatory death
sentence for anyone over 18 guilty of trafficking more than 15
grams of heroin, 30 grams of morphine or 500 grams of cannabis.

Of the more than 300 people hanged in Singapore since 1975,
more than half were convicted drug traffickers.