Singapore has very strict laws on drug trafficking. Anyone found with more than 15 grams of heroin faces mandatory capital punishment. I remember learning this fact in primary school. Even on Singapore Airlines flights into Singapore, this fact would be announced over the PA system to warn tourists or anyone entering the country.
According to Amnesty International more than 400 people were hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking offices. So it was strange to read in today’s newspaper about a ‘cobbler’ heroin trafficker who was jailed for 21 years. His role was to transfer the heroin from the shoes of three couriers to those of another three couriers. According to the report, 1.5kg of heroin was seized. That’s enough to warrant 100 capital sentences. Besides this cobbler, another courier has pleaded guilty, and both of them were charged with trafficking “not less than 14.99g” of heroin. I’m guessing there is some sort of deal being cut, where if you plead guilty you escape the noose. The remaining 5 are claiming trial.
Now if you approach this logically:”if you traffic more than 15g then you face the death sentence.” The contrapositive of the statement is “if you do not face the death sentence then you did not traffic more than 15g.” So “less than 15g” is equivalent to “not less than 14.99g”. Of course, there is actually no contradiction here because you could in fact be trafficking 14.999g.
Yes there is a pun in the title.