SINGAPORE : Three people caught in a high society drug bust in October have escaped the death penalty.
Tests showed the amount of cocaine they are alleged to have been trafficking was less than 30 grammes in purity.
Anything above that amount carries a mandatory death penalty.
Tunisian Guiga Laroussi, Singaporean Marx Oh and Laroussi's girlfriend Mariana Abdullah were arrested in October in a cocaine bust.
The operation marked the start of a series of high profile arrests of personalities for alleged trafficking and consumption.
They included former Singapore Tatler editor Nigel Simmonds and Dinesh Bhatia - son of former Nominated MP Kanwaljit Soin and former High Court judge Amarjeet Singh.
The rest will be making separate court appearances in the following weeks.
On Monday, the trafficking charges of Laroussi, Oh and Mariana were reduced after laboratory tests showed the drug purity to be below the capital offence level of 30 grammes.
If convicted, all three now face between 20 and 30 years' jail, and 15 strokes of the cane for the men.
A key issue was the purity of the drug. Cocaine is often mixed with other items like baking soda, sugars and even cement.
But a person is charged only on the pure amount of the drug, after impurities are removed.
In the case of the three, it made the difference between life and death.
After analysis, the amount of cocaine for the Tunisian Laroussi was reduced from 61.2 grammes to 25.32 grammes, while Oh's case was reduced from 49.02 grammes to 21.67 grammes.
But their lawyer hopes to bring it down even further.
Mr Subhas Anandan, lawyer, said: "We will apply to CNB and the scientific office here to give us their working sheets, how they arrived at this conclusion and let experts overseas - United States and Europe - look at it and see if it is conformed or not.
"Hoping for results that will make quantity even lower and then may not even face the minimum of 20 years."
Both men are now expected to be out on bail - $250,000 for Laroussi and $200,000 for Oh, and their case will be mentioned again on December 20. - CNA