CUBBY LEONG
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ONE by one, they made their way to the home of the woman who headed the drug syndicate. And, one after another, the waiting Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers nabbed them.
A British management consultant, a construction supervisor also from Britain, a young Malaysian woman who works as a sports coach, a Japanese director, Thai prostitutes ... all of them were arrested. Some were carrying drugs, some had imbibed them. When it was all over, the officers had rounded up the 31-year-old Thai woman who heads the drugs syndicate, her American boyfriend, as well as 12 others who came to buy cocaine, Ice, cannabis or Ecstasy from her home.
The profile of these
buyers showed the syndicate was catering to well-heeled expatriates.
According to the CNB, the operation kicked off just after 3pm on Monday, when the officers — who had received some information about the syndicate — spotted a 45-year-old British management consultant making his way to the Thai woman’s Oxley Garden home.
The van carrying the Briton was
stopped and cocaine and ketamine were found on board.
A procession began. A 30-year-old British director was next to arrive and when he left 20 minutes later, his vehicle, too, was stopped. A cocaine-stained packet was seized.
Another British man, together with a female Malaysian sports coach were the next to drop by. Her urine tested positive for cannabis. Around 7.50pm, the operation
took another twist. A 24-year-old Thai woman spotted leaving the syndicate chief’s home was found to have packets of the stimulant Ice hidden in her underwear. She
turned out to be a runner for another drug trafficker — a 37-yearold Thai prostitute.
The raids now moved to Balestier Road — where a further two male Thai prostitutes were caught for substance abuse and Telok Blangah Rise, where the 37-year-old trafficker and some clients were caught. All this while, the woman at the heart of the Oxley Garden syndicate remained unaware that her clients were being picked up as they left her home. Finally, around 8.20pm, she and her boyfriend, an American who works as a senior operations manager, left their Oxley Garden home. They were nabbed and both tested positive or drugs. Only the mopping-up remained and it was in the course of this that two other client a Japanese director and a Singaporean contractor were nabbed.
While some of the clients have been let off on bail, the syndicate leader and the drug trafficker are likely to be charged today.
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