159 suspected drug offenders arrested in 12-day CNB blitz, including 13-year-old

SINGAPORE - The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) arrested 159 suspected drug offenders in a 12-day islandwide operation, the agency said on Friday (Sept 13).

Those arrested include seven teenagers - aged between 13 and 18 - caught at a drug party in Fajar Road, as well as a couple with four children under the age of seven, the CNB added.

A total of 124g of heroin, 91g of Ice, 15g of new psychoactive substances, 8g of ketamine, three Ecstasy tablets, three Erimin-5 tablets, three bottles containing methadone and two LSD stamps - a hallucinogenic drug - were seized.

The operation took place from the morning of Sept 2 to Friday morning, covering areas including Geylang, Serangoon, Toa Payoh and Woodlands.

CNB said it raided a ninth-floor residential unit at Block 454 Fajar Road, where a drug party was in full swing, on Wednesday.

Despite repeated warnings, the occupants refused to give officers access to the unit, with two occupants climbing out of the unit onto the air-conditioner ledge to evade arrest. They also threw a small packet of Ice, a cut straw, two syringes, three lighters and a lighter refiller out the window onto the grass patch below the block. These were later recovered by CNB.

Seven teenagers between 13 and 18 years of age, and a 38-year-old Singaporean woman were arrested. Preliminary investigations showed that the woman was the biological mother of two of the teens - a 16-year-old girl and her 13-year-old brother.

In another case on Sept 2, CNB arrested a Singaporean couple - a 33-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman - near Edgefield Walk after 5g of Ice and drug paraphernalia were found in their unit.

Three of their four children - aged three months, 19 months and six years - were in the unit during the CNB raid. The eldest, aged six years and nine months, was in school.

CNB said it is working closely with the Ministry of Social and Family Development to care for the children, who will be looked after by extended family members.

The agency is investigating the drug activities of the arrested suspects.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.