FATE OF GERMAN ON DRUG CHARGE IN THE BALANCE

Purity of cannabis seized last week will determine whether Julia Suzanne
Bohl faces capital charge

JULIA Suzanne Bohl, the 23-year-old German woman charged last Friday with
trafficking cannabis may not face a capital charge. It all depends on how
pure the 687 g of seized cannabis is.

Now, it's all up to the chemical analysis carried out routinely on drugs
that have been seized. This may take up to two months.

It may take up to two months for Bohl to learn her fate. Her father (right)
flew in from Germany to be with her in court. -- WONG MAYE-E

If pure cannabis makes up less than 500 g of the amount that Bohl was
allegedly found with, she and the three Singaporeans charged with her will
not face the mandatory death penalty.

Said lawyer Peter Fernando: 'We remain hopeful because the gross weight of
687 g is reasonably close to the 500 g limit.'

Mr Fernando is representing one of the three Singaporeans, 33-year-old
casual worker Hamdan Mohamed. Mr Subhas Anandan is representing Bohl.

At least 340 people - mostly drug offenders - have been hanged in Singapore
since 1975. That year, the death penalty became mandatory for murder and
trafficking in controlled drugs.

Someone found in possession of 500 g or more of pure cannabis is presumed
to be trafficking in the drug.

There have been instances where someone convicted of trafficking escapes
the death penalty because analysis shows that the drugs seized contained
less than 500 g of pure cannabis.

The Health Sciences Authority will analyse the block of vegetable matter
allegedly seized from Bohl's home in Balmoral Court on Balmoral Road.

It was there that Bohl, Hamdan, 22-year-old Sunaiza Hamzah and 21- year-old
Mahdi Ibrahim Bamadhaj were allegedly trafficking in drugs on March 13.
Mahdi is believed to be Bohl's live-in boyfriend.

First charged in court on March 15, Bohl yesterday faced a second charge of
consuming ketamine. With handcuffs on her wrists, the long- haired former
German School student looked calm.

Bohl's parents, who also have a son, are divorced. In court yesterday was
her father, Mr Wolfgang Bohl, an engineer with the German airline
Lufthansa, who flew in from Germany on Monday.

Accompanied by an official from the German Embassy, Mr Bohl would say only
that he felt 'bad'.

He would not answer questions from more than 20 reporters and cameramen
from news agencies and the German press, some of whom had flown in for the
trial and who dogged him until he left in a chauffeured Mercedes Benz.

The case has attracted considerable international attention, especially in
Germany, which does not impose the death penalty.

The case will be mentioned again on March 28.