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SINGAPORE: The trucks claimed to bring furniture, personal effects and “taugeh” (bean sprouts) to the market. But the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) was not fooled.
The officers thwarted two separate attempts to smuggle some 15 kg of controlled drugs concealed in the two Malaysian-registered trucks at the Woodlands checkpoint.
Two Malaysian men, aged 38 and 44, were arrested and referred to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for investigation, authorities said in a joint statement here today.
In the first attempt on December 18, the statement said that a Malaysian-registered truck carrying a shipment of bean sprouts was referred by ICA officials for additional checks where seven packages of controlled drugs were found, containing approximately 4,622 g. of heroin and 521 g of “ice”. he found.
In the second case detected on December 21, a Malaysian-registered truck carrying furniture and vehicle parts was also instructed to carry out further checks.
The agents’ suspicions were aroused when they noticed abnormalities in the scanned X-ray images of the consignment declared as “personal effects” items.
Packages containing a total of 4,368 g of “ice”, 5,110 g of cannabis, 4,900 “ecstasy” tablets and 4,750 erimin-5 tablets were found hidden inside furniture.
This prompted subsequent anti-drug operations by CNB at multiple locations in Singapore, the statement said.
Approximately 4,622 g of heroin, 5,393 g of “ice”, 5,482 g of cannabis, 247 g of ketamine, 5,111 “ecstasy” tablets, and 5,383 erimin-5 tablets were recovered.
Seven suspected drug offenders were arrested, including six men and one woman between the ages of 20 and 55.
The seized drugs are estimated to be worth around S $ 2.3 million (Ringgit 7 million).
