A despatch rider who used his Uber Eats bag to deliver drugs has been jailed for 14 years and six months.

Shahrizal Abdul Rahman, 43, who was sentenced last Thursday (20 September), was also given 16 strokes of the cane.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to four charges: one count each of drug consumption, possession and trafficking, as well as receiving the benefits of drug dealing. Three other charges were considered in sentencing.

A district court heard that Shahrizal started delivering and repacking heroin in June last year, after learning about the trade from his friend.

On his fourth trafficking run on July 14, 2017, at about 5.15pm, officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau saw Shahrizal meeting up with an accomplice at the traffic junction along Upper Changi Road East and Upper Changi Link.

With Shahrizal’s motorcycle engine still running, so that he could make a quick escape, his accomplice placed an envelope containing drugs in the Uber bag on a goods basket attached to the pillion seat of the motorbike.

The accomplice then took out a plastic bag containing $3,000 in cash from the Uber bag.

Both Shahrizal and his accomplice were arrested.

A urine test conducted on Shahrizal indicated that he had consumed heroin. He confessed to taking the drug regularly since 2009.

Shahrizal told officers that a packet of 10.29g of drugs, containing 0.19g of pure heroin, was for his own use.

Another packet of 450.6g of drugs, containing 9.48g of pure heroin, was for sale, he admitted. The heroin could be repacked into 55 packets for sale at a profit of up to $3,600.

According to Shahrizal, the $3,080 cash found on him when he was arrested was the remainder of his profit from the sale of heroin to his accomplice on the first three occasions.

Shahrizal has filed an appeal against his sentence.

Following Grab’s acquisition of Uber, the latter’s food delivery service Uber Eats ceased in May.

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