SINGAPORE -- A 27-year-old unemployed man was hanged at dawn today on conviction of trafficking in narcotics.
In accordance with Singapore tradition, no outsiders were allowed to view the hanging of convicted heroin trafficker Ong Ah Chuan in Changi Prison.
A government statement said the hanging was carried out at 6 A.M. after Ong's third and final appeal was rejected by Singapore President Benjamin Sheares.
Ong was convicted of narcotics trafficking April 5, 1978. He was arrested June 2, 1977 with two plastic bags of heroin.
Under Singapore's narcotics laws possession of 15 grams or more of heroin is considered trafficking and is punishable by death.
Ong was the seventh drug offender to be hanged in Singapore since the law came into force in 1975.
Ten others on death row, including two women, are awaiting the results of appeals.
