Drugs worth more than S$418,000 seized at Woodlands Checkpoint

1. On 2 May 2017 at about 10.40pm, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers directed an arriving Singapore-registered car, driven by a lone male Singaporean, for further checks at Woodlands Checkpoint.



2. There were three plastic bags containing different boxes of items in the car. During inspection, ICA officers uncovered Erimin-5 tablets concealed in a box of washing powder. Officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) were alerted and conducted further checks on the other boxes, uncovering a total of about 3.1kg of ‘Ice’, 2kg of cannabis, 1,700 Erimin-5 tablets and 60 ‘Ecstasy’ tablets. The 35-year-old man was arrested and CNB followed up with an operation to arrest the suspected intended recipients of the seized drugs.



3. On 3 May 2017 at about 1.10am, CNB officers arrested three suspected drug traffickers in the vicinity of Woodlands Avenue 4. A search was conducted on the car of the first suspect, a 32-year-old male Singaporean, and officers recovered 17 ‘Ecstasy’ tablets, 8g of ‘Ice’, cash amounting to S$22,800, a digital weighing scale and numerous empty plastic sachets.



4. CNB officers also searched the car of the other two suspects, a 27-year-old male Singaporean and a 24-year-old female Singaporean. Cash amounting to S$12,250 was recovered from within the car. A search conducted at the Pasir Ris residence of the 27-year-old man recovered small amounts of ‘Ice’, ketamine and cannabis.



5. At about 5.35am, CNB officers arrested another suspected drug trafficker, a 25-year-old male Singaporean, in the vicinity of Orchard Towers.



6. Investigations into the drug activities of all the arrested suspects are ongoing. The Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) provides for the death penalty if the amount of methamphetamine trafficked exceeds 250g. 250g of methamphetamine is sufficient to feed the addiction of about 185 abusers for a week. The MDA also provides for the death penalty if the amount of cannabis trafficked exceeds 500g.



7. Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security, and security checks are critical to our nation’s security. The Home Team agencies will continue to conduct checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
CENTRAL NARCOTICS BUREAU