SINGAPORE: In a statement on Thursday (Dec 14), the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said that a 37-year-old Singaporean man was arrested by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) for suspected drug-related offences in South Korea. The CNB added that on 9 April 2023, the man was arrested along with three other associates, two of whom are female Singaporeans, and the third a female of a foreign nationality.
The 37-year-old man is suspected to be involved in coordinating and supplying drugs to associates in Singapore for their subsequent trafficking and sale in Singapore using encrypted chat applications. The CNB added that according to immigration records, the man left Singapore on 12 Nov 2021. The statement by CNB said that the 37-year-old man had set up his base in South Korea to traffic drugs.
On 9 April 2023, SMPA arrested the man and his three associates. The man and the female foreign national were charged with drug-related offences in South Korea and sentenced to jail. The man was sentenced to seven years in jail, while his associate was sentenced to three years. Upon completion of his jail sentence in South Korea, CNB will work with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) and SMPA to facilitate the repatriation of the man back to Singapore, where further investigations will be conducted into his suspected acts of coordination and supply of drugs to associates in Singapore.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the man was the head of an international drug sales organisation that promoted the sale of drugs through Telegram. He and his team, which had been based in South Korea from September 2022 to July 2023, distributed drugs, including cannabis and meth, in the form of jellies, candies and e-cigarettes or vapes overseas, earning them a profit of 250 million won (S$256,000).
In expressing his appreciation to CNB’s Korean counterparts, SAC Leon Chan, Deputy Director of CNB for Operations, said: “Drug trafficking is cross-border issue that affects many countries, and traffickers increasingly use encrypted chat applications to advertise the sale of drugs to new clients and to arrange for the delivery of the drugs”.
“The successful arrest in this case is testament to the good relationship and close cooperation between CNB, NIS and SMPA in tackling the transnational nature of drug trafficking. For drug syndicate leaders and members who choose to feed their greed by bringing harm to our people in Singapore, CNB will spare no efforts to bring them to face justice in Singapore”, Mr Chan added.