SINGAPORE/Hanoi (The Straits Times/ANN): A 43-year-old Singaporean man suspected to be involved in drug trafficking has been arrested in Vietnam, said the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).
His involvement was uncovered during an investigation in February 2021, said CNB in a June 30 statement. The man, who operated from overseas, allegedly supplied drugs to associates in Singapore for subsequent trafficking and sale.
Immigration records showed he had left Singapore on Sept 27, 2019. CNB subsequently reached out to its foreign counterparts for information on his whereabouts.
Following close cooperation with the Counter-Narcotics Police Department of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, the man was deported and handed over to CNB on June 28.
CNB’s deputy director of operations Leon Chan attributed the arrest to the cooperation and trust between the bureau and its Vietnamese counterpart.
Mr Chan added that the man, who “believed he could carry on supplying drugs to associates in Singapore with impunity simply by setting up a base in Vietnam... was badly mistaken”.
The man, whose name CNB declined to reveal, was charged with drug trafficking in relation to the February 2021 investigation upon his return to Singapore. Following the same investigation, a 39-year-old man was arrested with about 472g of heroin. He has been convicted and sentenced. -- The Straits Times/ANN
