FIRST KNOWN SRI LANKAN DRUG RING HERE BUSTED

IMMIGRATION and anti-narcotics officers have smashed the first Sri Lankan
drug syndicate known to operate here.

The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Singapore Immigration and
Registration (SIR) netted four suspected drug traffickers and 12 others
suspected to be immigration offenders.

In this joint swoop on Friday, Operation Twin Peaks, they also seized
nearly 3 kg of cannabis worth an estimated $40,000 on the street.

On Wednesday, the SIR told the CNB that a foreign drug syndicate was
looking for buyers. The ring was found to be operating out of hotels in
Geylang, at Lorong 18 and Lorong 22.

On Thursday, CNB officers identified a 37-year-old Indian national as a key
member of the syndicate.

Officers trailing him noted that he worked as a driver and ferried other
foreign workers around the island.

Later that night, they saw him enter a room in a hotel at Lorong 22.

SIR and CNB officers raided the room on Friday afternoon and found 13
packets of cannabis.

They arrested the Indian national and the three foreigners with him, who
all turned out to be from Sri Lanka. The two Sri Lankan men were 25 and 26
years old, and the woman was 31.

CNB deputy director Muhammad Azni Sarbini said yesterday that the
26-year-old had a valid student pass and claimed he was a student at a
polytechnic here. The other Sri Lankan man's visit pass had expired. He and
the woman are unemployed. Twelve other foreigners, four of them Sri Lankan
women, were arrested in a separate raid at a Lorong 18 hotel the same day.

The 12 were seen associating with the four suspected drug syndicate
members, visiting each other's rooms and going out together, said Mr
Muhammad Azni.

Six of the eight men in this group were Sri Lankan nationals. The other two
were from India.

He added that five of the 12 had overstayed. Another one had actually been
barred from entering Singapore. The 12 are being investigated for
immigration offences.

None of the 16 arrested tested positive for drug use.