Drug trafficking: PIO executed in S’pore

46-year-old Suppiah was detained in 2014

Singapore, April 26

Singapore on Wednesday executed a 46-year-old Indian-origin drug trafficker, ignoring pleas for clemency from his family, human rights activists and the United Nations.

Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged at dawn in Changi Prison, a day after his 11th-hour appeal was rejected by a court here. He was convicted in October 2018 by a High Court judge of a capital charge of abetting an accomplice by conspiring to traffic cannabis. This was by delivering about 1kg of cannabis to himself, an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The Singaporean of Indian origin was detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test.

A statement by the Singapore Prison Service said that Tangaraju “had his capital sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex”. Tangaraju’s sister Leelavathy Suppiah said the family had received a death certificate. It was Singapore’s first execution in six months. Tangaraju’s case had drawn support from British billionaire Richard Branson and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.