A PAKISTANI man escaped the gallows after the charge against him was substituted from drug trafficking to drug possession today.

Sardar Ali Hassan Muhammad, 47, who was a construction worker, was instead sentenced to 20 years’ prison and ordered to be whipped 10 times for possessing 191g of heroin and monoacetylmorphine eight years ago.

The Federal Court substituted the conviction after the deputy public prosecutor informed it that the prosecution agrees to the change.

The court then ordered the prison sentence to start from the day the accused was arrested, on August 7, 2014.

Sardar committed the offence at the international arrival baggage claim area at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor, at 1.10pm on August 7, 2014.

The Shah Alam High Court convicted and sentenced him to death for drug trafficking on October 27, 2017.

Sardar lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal on August 11, 2020. – Bernama, May 24, 2022.