Dressed in a formal business suit with a hand carry bag and a trolley luggage, he strolled nonchalantly towards the Green Channel at Terminal 2 Arrival Hall at the Changi Airport. When stopped by an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer for a routine check, the man smiled and calmly replied that he had nothing to declare. There was nothing in his demeanour that suggested he was nervous yet this composure was what piqued the ICA officer’s interest.

2. On 20 August 2009 at about 7pm, the male Malaysian, upon arrival from Yangon, was directed by the ICA officer to have his checked-in luggage screened although he was exiting through the Green Channel. What should have been just a random routine check led to something more than expected. When screening the luggage, the observant ICA officer immediately spotted anomalies on the scanning images. Based on his experience, the officer suspected that there was a concealed compartment in the middle of the hard case luggage that could possibly be used to hide controlled substances.

3. The ICA officer then alerted officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) to conduct a joint inspection of the dubious luggage. Indeed, they found a concealed compartment secured with ten screws inside the luggage. When the screws were removed, the officers found a transparent plastic bag containing crystallised substance. The substance, weighing almost 1kg, was suspected to be the controlled drug – Amphetamine.



X-ray image of the luggage




Substances found within the concealed compartment of the luggage

4. The 32-year old man was immediately detained and together with the seized exhibits, were handed over to the CNB for further investigations. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), the man will face the death penalty, if convicted.

5. 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, vehicles and conveyances at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands.


IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
21 AUGUST 2009