Singaporean authorities have reported that a 37-year-old Malaysian man was taken into police custody after S$256,000 (US$184,648) worth of heroin and syabu were found inside the vehicle he was driving.
Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) made the discovery at the Woodlands border crossing at 1:55pm, Monday afternoon. Having asked the man to take his vehicle for further inspection, officers later found several black-clad parcels hidden throughout the car. Tucked in the car’s air conditioning vents, seat covers, and rear seat backrests were 2.95kg of cannabis, 2.38kg of heroin, and 546g of syabu.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Last Friday, Singapore executed a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker, despite pleas from his home country for clemency on humanitarian grounds.
Prabu N. Pathmanathan was sentenced to death in 2014 for trafficking 227.82 grams (7.97 ounces) of heroin into Singapore, media reports said.
Capital punishment was recently abolished in Malaysia but remains in Singapore as a legacy of British colonial rule on the peninsula.
While many Singaporean activists have spoken out against the punishment, the government maintains that it is an effective means of deterring crime and important to their fight on drugs.
Amnesty International has said that six executions have been carried out this year in Singapore, with eight others carried out in 2017 – all based on drug convictions.
Words by Coconuts KL
