COMMENT | Tale of 2 Malaysian drug couriers lost in Iran

COMMENT | Lawyer M Manoharan made a heartfelt plea to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on the fate of two Malaysians who were recently repatriated from Iran.

Most Malaysians arrested abroad are for drug offences, and they are no different.

Before you think there is any excitement and intrigue behind their arrest. There are none. They are not Pablo Escobar, nor are they an organised group.

They were an aunt and a niece. A holiday trip to Japan, booked through an unscrupulous travel agent, landed them in a bizarre Iranian transit option. Cancellation requests were met with threats of “burning” their bookings, putting their hard-earned savings at risk.

Their vacation plan went from a happy flight to Japan to a “sunk-cost” transit through Iran that cost them six years in Iranian prison, and likely 19 more in Malaysia.

The family had to struggle to find information about their arrest and pleaded for various authorities to intervene on their behalf. After spending more than three years in prison, a help request by one of them came knocking at Hayat’s door, asking for help to bring them home.

This kicked Hayat on a journey to understand how the duo landed in Iran, and the uncertain journey ahead for their transfer back to Malaysia.

Credit where it is due, the Iranian Embassy in Malaysia and our Malaysian diplomats in Iran made it work with a prisoner transfer agreement between our countries. This paved the way for the two to be returned home and serve the remainder of their sentence in Malaysia.

Failed enforcement strategies

Our enforcement agencies have a quota of arrests to make. As with all poorly formulated KPI, what we get is an increase in arrests and prisoners on death row with no corresponding decline in the drug trade.

At best, many of these individuals are low-level dealers caught with the bag of drugs they are peddling for others, or at worst, exploited victims of human trafficking.

Throwing one of them or a thousand of them in prison or on death row makes no difference to the drug trade. Fundamentally, they are disposable pawns of a global trade order that can always find a thousand more couriers through dozens of methods and avenues.

I was hoping that Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department director Hussein Omar Khan, with his early announcement of a new strategic direction of focusing on cross-border smuggling, would have brought about tangible changes to how drug enforcement is approached.

Sadly, this new strategy failed its first test in October 2025 when a Malaysian witness to a drug syndicate operation was executed in Singapore.

Rather than pinning down potential witnesses and building a holistic case against the drug syndicate allegedly operating from Johor Bahru, our investigation efforts went so far as to show photos of drug syndicate members, a dramatic shrug, and a bare denial that these witnesses provided useful or actionable information.

Dangerous Drugs Act 1952

Turning back to the two repatriated from Iran, this burning question arises.

What has Bukit Aman done to investigate and validate their claims of exploitation and deception?

If their stories were true, was the travel agent ever identified, arrested and prosecuted?

If he was, what was the effort to prove and bring back the two as innocent victims of this travel agent, and potential witnesses to his deeds?

Malaysia used to have more than 700 individuals on death row for drug trafficking, a disturbing fact that gives some the impression that our law enforcement is exceptionally good at identifying and stopping drug trafficking.

The reality is, drug couriers on death row are rarely ever members of the drug syndicate, much less kingpins or masterminds behind drug syndicates.

If these two are just innocent victims of exploitation, what is the appropriate punishment for them? The 25 years imposed by the Iranian authorities, our 30 years’ imprisonment or the death penalty under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952? Are either option fit or fair?

Here is the question I have for our home minister - when we brought back the two and consigned them to another 19 years of imprisonment, are they paying for their mistake, or are we making new mistakes?

DOBBY CHEW is CEO of Hayat, a Kuala Lumpur-based organisation committed to advocating for rehabilitative and restorative justice, with a focus on decarceration, drug policy reform, and the total abolition of the death penalty.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Crypto giants move billions tied to money launderers, drug traffickers

Muda slams deputy minister's 'baseless, misleading' remarks on Pannir case

Bukit Aman finds no grounds to support death row inmate Pannir

DAP leader: How did drug mules clear M'sian checks into S'pore?