Nearly 6kg of kratom leaves seized at Woodlands Checkpoint, 5 arrested
SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old driver was arrested after officers at Woodlands Checkpoint uncovered nearly 6kg of kratom leaves in an arriving lorry.
The detection of the contraband led to the arrest of four more men at multiple locations in Singapore, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said on Wednesday (Jan 5).
On Monday morning, ICA officers noticed anomalies in the scanned images of a Malaysia-registered lorry conveying a consignment of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.
During further checks, officers found a trash bag containing 22 bundles of about 5.8kg of kratom leaves in the vehicle's battery compartment.
The driver, a 33-year-old Malaysian man, was immediately arrested and referred to CNB for further investigations.
DRUG OFFENDERS ARRESTED
In a follow-up operation conducted later on the same day, CNB officers arrested a 33-year-old Singaporean man and a 40-year-old Malaysian man near Pandan Loop. A 27-year-old Malaysian man was also subsequently arrested in the same area.
The remaining suspect, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was nabbed on Tuesday afternoon in a commercial building near Beach Road.
Investigations into the drug activities and all five suspected drug offenders are ongoing.
The authorities said kratom contains Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine, which are both Class A controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Those found guilty of importing Class A controlled drugs face at least five years' jail and five strokes of the cane.
"Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore’s security," said the authorities.
"The ICA and CNB will continue to conduct security checks at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, weapons, explosives, controlled drugs and other contrabands across our borders".
