A POLICE sergeant was fined RM20,000 by the Malacca Sessions Court today on an alternative charge of receiving RM4,000 from a woman in connection with a drug case, last year.

Judge Mohd Nasir Nordin meted the fine to Mohd Azani Mohd Khalid, 34, who was attached to the Alor Gajah district police headquarters’ Narcotics Criminal Investigation division, after he changed his plea to guilty when the case came up for mention today.

The court also ordered Azani, father of two, to serve six months in jail, if he failed to pay the fine.

He was accused of receiving RM4,000 in cash from a woman at Jalan Bidara Permai 5, Taman Bidara Permai, Pengkalan Balak, Masjid Tanah, Alor Gajah, at 1.30pm, on October 9, last year.

According to the facts of the case, on October 4, 2019, the accused, as the investigating officer of a drug case, had contacted a woman whose son was being investigated under Section 15 (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, to inform her that her son was remanded until October 7, 2019 and said that the man could be released by handing him RM4,000.

Despite the woman’s appeal for the amount to be reduced, the accused said the amount was fixed and told her to hand over RM4,000 on October 9 and that he would come to the woman’s residence to pick it up. – Bernama, September 21, 2020.