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SINGAPORE: Authorities arrested three people for alleged drug-related activities and seized 200 vials of fentanyl and other illegal medicines after detecting abnormalities while scanning a package at the Changi Air Cargo Center.
In a joint statement on Saturday (March 6), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said the package arrived from Vietnam. and it was declared “medication”.
After conducting further checks on March 1, ICA officials discovered 200 vials believed to contain around 20 mg of fentanyl, a Class A controlled drug in Singapore.
They also found other illegal drugs in the package, including 3,990 tablets labeled diazepam, 400 tablets labeled codeine phosphate, 300 tablets labeled gabapentin, and 40 vials labeled midazolam.
READ: 24 New Psychoactive Substances Listed as Class A Controlled Drugs as of December
“Fentanyl is known to be a very potent opioid, approximately 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine,” authorities said.
Upon detection, CNB conducted a follow-up operation that afternoon in the vicinity of Beach Road and arrested the intended recipient of the package, a 30-year-old permanent resident of Singapore.
She was arrested along with two other Singaporeans, aged 62 and 65, for alleged drug-related offenses.
The three suspects were taken to their hideout, an apartment in the same vicinity, authorities said.
During a search of the apartment, HSA seized about 16 liters of cough syrup that were stored in cans and bottles, and more than 4,500 units of unlabeled tablets and pills. The illegal drugs have a total street value of approximately S $ 9,300.
Other illicit medicines seized from an apartment near Beach Road on March 1 (Photo: HSA)
Bottles of cough syrup stored in the freezer seized from the apartment in the vicinity of Beach Road on March 1, 2021.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the apartment was used to illegally manufacture and store cough syrup and medicines,” authorities said.
“Instruments used for mixing and repackaging were also seized, such as a high-speed industrial blender, funnels and measuring containers.”
Instruments used to make cough syrup found in an apartment near Beach Road on March 1 (Photo: HSA)
Investigations into the drug-related activities of the three suspects are ongoing.
CNB reiterated that fentanyl and its derivatives are listed as Class A controlled drugs under Singapore’s Drug Abuse Act (MDA).
Fentanyl abuse can lead to nausea, drowsiness, respiratory depression, low blood pressure, and a slow heart rate.
“Due to its potency, abuse of fentanyl carries an increased risk of death as a result of an overdose and there have been many cases in foreign jurisdictions of overdose deaths related to fentanyl and its derivatives,” authorities said.
READ: The Drug Abuse Act will be amended to better regulate new psychoactive substances
“Possession, consumption, importation or trafficking of any controlled drug is a crime under the MDA. Singapore takes a zero tolerance stance in our fight against drug abuse.
“Anyone who has committed a crime involving a controlled drug will be prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
Anyone found guilty of importing, manufacturing and / or supplying illegal medical devices can be sentenced to a sentence of up to 2 years, a fine of up to S $ 50,000, or both.
