On 3 April 2018 at about 8.35pm, a woman driving a Malaysia-registered car was stopped by a Traffic Police (TP) Auxiliary Police Officer who was regulating traffic towards Woodlands checkpoint. The 28-year-old Malaysian woman did not comply with the officer’s instruction and had made an unauthorised right turn from Woodlands Centre Road towards the checkpoint during restricted hours. The woman was directed to the traffic control post at Woodlands Crossing for her summon to be processed. As she was driving towards the control post, she accelerated dangerously up the ramp towards the checkpoint, almost knocking into an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer.

2.         When the car came to a stop at the checkpoint, the woman refused to alight from the car and locked herself inside. Checkpoint officers noticed that she seemed to be experiencing breathing difficulty after ingesting a white tablet. Despite attempts to persuade her to unlock the car door, she refused to comply. Officers had to break the front passenger window of the car to reach her and an ambulance was activated. After assessing that she was not required to be conveyed to the hospital, the woman was arrested for failure to comply with the instruction of authorised officers.

3.         Further checks on the woman and her car by Police K-9 unit uncovered one “Erimin-5” wrapper at the center console of the car. Another “Erimin-5” tablet was found inside her handbag. Suspecting that the woman was driving under the influence of drugs, officers conducted swabs on her hands and belongings, which yielded positive results for controlled drugs. The woman was also in possession of a vape which was believed to contain controlled drug. The woman and the car were handed over to the Police and the Central Narcotics Bureau. Investigations are ongoing.

4.         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
11 APRIL 2018