Singaporean man suspected of drug trafficking arrested in Vietnam

SINGAPORE - 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 operates from overseas, allegedly supplied drugs to associates in Singapore for subsequent trafficking and sale.

But immigration records showed that he had left Singapore soil since 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 the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, the man was deported and handed over to CNB on June 28.

CNB’s deputy director for operations Leon Chan attributed the arrest to the cooperation and trust between the bureau and their 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 was charged for drug trafficking in relation to the February 2021 investigation upon his return to Singapore, said CNB. Following the same investigation, a 39-year-old man, then 36, was arrested with about 472g of heroin. He has been convicted and sentenced.