A 58 year old Singaporean man escaped the gallows after the Ipoh High Court reduced the charge of trafficking in over 5,000 grams of drugs in the form of one million Eramin 5 pills to one of possession.

Tan Cheok Kwe was instead ordered to serve five years' jail and pay a 40,000 ringgit fine after pleading guilty to the amended charge of possessing the drugs at Syarikat Hock Cheong Transport Sdn Bhd, off Jalan Kuala Kangsar on August 19, 2010.

In making his decision. Judge Datuk Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani said the most prominent factor in the case was the large amount of drugs involved and that the accused had planned to hide the drugs and reap profits from its distribution.
 
He added that Tan was lucky to have been offered an alternative charge instead of the initial charge which carries the death penalty.
 
Datuk Zainal Adzam ordered Tan to serve his sentence from the date of arrest which was on August 19, 2010.
 
Tan was incarcerated at the Sungai Udang Prison in Malacca since two years ago.