S$141,000 worth of drugs seized in two separate busts
Drugs seized at Woodlands Checkpoint on Nov 7 by officers from the ICA and CNB. Photo: CNB
SINGAPORE — A total of seven people were arrested in two separate drug busts that saw narcotics worth a street value of more than S$141,000 seized by the authorities this week.
In the first case, three men — including a Malaysian who had arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint in a Malaysian-registered car — were arrested by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).
A 28-year-old Malaysian man was first arrested at about 10.20pm on Tuesday (Nov 7) after he was directed for further checks by an officer from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) at Woodlands Checkpoint.
During the check conducted by the ICA officer, together with a narcotics detection dog from the Singapore Police Force’s K9 unit, four bundles were found in his car.
In a joint ICA and CNB statement, the HOME team agencies said that the bundles contained a total of about 616g of ‘Ice’, 29g of ketamine, 590 Erimin-5 tablets and 20 ‘Ecstasy’ tablets.
“The haul of drugs was estimated to be worth more than S$69,000,” said the statement issued on Thursday.
After follow-up investigations, two Singaporean men – aged 28 and 32 – were arrested in the vicinity of Bedok North Street 1 in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday.
CNB officers then found about 10g of ‘Ice’, 4g of ketamine, 21 Erimin-5 tablets, 5 ‘Ecstasy’ tablets and other drug paraphernalia from the car driven by the 32-year-old man.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, a smuggler faces the death penalty if the amount of methamphetamine trafficked exceeds 250g. According to the CNB, 250g of methamphetamine is sufficient to feed the addiction of about 185 abusers for a week.
In a separate case on Wednesday evening, three men and a woman — all Singaporeans — were arrested after the CNB conducted an operation in the vicinity of Jalan Besar.
A 46-year-old male suspected drug abuser was first spotted meeting up with a 32-year-old suspected female drug offender along Mayo Street at around 10.50pm.
Shortly after, officers from the CNB arrested the man in the vicinity of a budget hotel along Jalan Besar, while the female suspect was arrested at the junction of Sungei Road and Perak Road.
The CNB officers then brought the male suspect back to his hotel room, where they arrested two other suspects in the room — a 49-year-old male and a 54-year-old male.
In a statement, the CNB said that they had recovered about 482g of heroin inside the jeans worn by the 46-year-old male, as well as cash of S$6,474.
”Officers recovered a small amount of heroin on the 49-year-old male and officers recovered a further 200g of heroin and a small amount of ‘Ice’ from a bag belonging to the 54-year-old male,” the CNB added.
A small amount of heroin and ‘Ice’ was also recovered from the table in the hotel room.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, a suspected drug trafficker faces the death penalty if the amount of diamorphine (or pure heroin) trafficked exceeds 15g. According to the CNB, 15g of diamorphine is equivalent to 1,250 straws, enough “to feed the addiction of about 180 abusers for a week”.
Police investigations on both cases are ongoing.
