Officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) deal with travellers and conveyances on a daily basis, and are trained to conduct thorough checks on them. It is nevertheless, seldom a breeze to crack a case. At times, officers have to get down and under, in order to seize the contraband.

On 19 Aug 2008 at about 1325hrs, K-9 officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint directed a Malaysia-registered taxi to the vehicle inspection zone for thorough checks. The taxi was driven by a 47 year-old male Malaysian Malay and there were four passengers, 3 Singaporeans and 1 Malaysian, in the taxi.

Photo 1: Malaysia-registered taxi

In the course of the checks, the alert officers noticed one of the Singaporean passengers behaving uneasily and avoided eye contact with the officers. He was brought into the ICA office where a thorough body search was conducted. A packet of greenish substance was found hidden in the groin area of this passenger. The substance, tightly wrapped in cellophane, was suspected to be cannabis.



Photo 2: Contraband detected!



Photo 3: Suspected cannabis wrapped in cellophane

4 A total of 137.5 grams of suspected cannabis was found and the 49 year-old Singaporean admitted ownership of the package. Preliminary investigations revealed that he had purchased the drugs from a male Malaysian by the name of "Suhaimi" at a market in Johor Bahru for RM900. He also claimed that the drug was intended for his personal consumption.

5 The case has been referred to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for investigations. For unauthorised importation of cannabis, the maximum sentence is 30 years or imprisonment for life and 15 strokes of the cane. The minimum sentence is 5 years imprisonment and 5 strokes of the cane, if convicted.

6 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.

7 ICA will put in every effort and continue to take the necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency as much as possible without compromising security. We seek your continued understanding and cooperation, and would like to advise against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.

END OF NEWS RELEASE
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority 19 August 2008