Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and Central Narcotics Bureau news release: ICA and CNB's speedy recovery success

A frozen speedometer? Officers from Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) at Woodlands Checkpoint spotted a suspicious looking driver and directed his vehicle for inspection. It did not take long for our officers to sniff out “Ice” and other illicit drugs from the vehicle.

On 18 March 2012, at about 2000hrs, a Malaysia-registered car driven by a Malaysian male Chinese was stopped for checks. The driver was interviewed by ICA and CNB officers and the vehicle was subjected to inspection. As a result, the officers detected a bundle wrapped with black masking tape hidden inside the speedometer compartment. All hopes to go scot-free by the driver were dashed.

In the presence of the subject, a total of 10 bundles wrapped with black masking tape, suspected to be controlled drugs, were retrieved from the dashboard. The black bundles were cut open and officers found a total of 400 Erimin-5 tablets, approximately 26gm of Ice, 42gm of Ketamine and 43 Ecstasy tablets, as well as drug paraphernalia such as smoking utensils and a weighing scale. The subject was immediately detained and together with the seized exhibits, he was handed over to CNB for further investigations. The case is currently undergoing investigation. If convicted, the accused will face up to a minimum of 5 years' imprisonment and a minimum of 5 strokes of the cane.

Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The enhanced security checks are critical to our nation’s security. We have tightened our security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
CENTRAL NARCOTICS BUREAU

Drugs seized by ICA and CNB at Woodlands Checkpoint 18 Mar 2012 (Photo: CNB)