POOR MAN'S ECSTASY TABLETS

The illicit drug, known as Yaba, is getting more Singaporeans hooked,
says the Central Narcotics Bureau

YABA tablets -- the poor man's Ecstasy pills -- are getting more
Singaporeans hooked, says the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

Formerly peddled and taken exclusively by Thai nationals, the illicit
drug has now penetrated the circuit of local traffickers and addicts.

In the CNB's latest operation over Wednesday and Thursday, more than
1,000 Yaba pills were seized and a Thai drug gang was busted.

CNB is concerned about the impact of the drug here, its deputy
director, Mr Muhammad Azni Sarbini, told The Straits Times yesterday.
He said: "The Thai traffickers here used to sell the drugs only to
their countrymen, and it was difficult for us to penetrate their
groups because they do not want to deal with Singaporeans."

But that has begun to change this year, he said, when local
traffickers started getting in on the act.

He said local traffickers dealing in Yaba tablets imagine that the
authorities would not be concerned about the drug. They think that the
bureau would not go after them, he added, because Yaba tablets are
usually sold only to Thai foreign workers.

But the CNB had been keeping a close watch on their activities, he
said.

Apart from the latest bust, there have been several arrests of
Singaporeans who were suspected of taking Yaba or found with it on
them.

In February, a local man, 41, was caught peddling Yaba tablets to
Singaporeans and Thai construction workers at Geylang Lorong 20.

When he was caught, he had 30 Yaba tablets on him.

The month before that, a man and a woman, both Singaporeans, were
caught selling Yaba tablets in Geylang and were arrested by
anti-narcotics officers.

The man, 50, and the 28-year-old woman were peddling over 600 of the
Yaba tablets, of the kind made in makeshift laboratories in
neighbouring countries.

In the bureau's latest operation, the Thai syndicate dealing in the
drug was smashed after an undercover CNB officer penetrated the ring
by posing as a buyer.

Five Thai nationals, including a 43-year-old woman, were arrested. The
1,051 Yaba tablets seized were taken from the Thais' living quarters
in Geylang.

After nearly 4,500 Yaba tablets were seized in 1998, the number fell
to 1,380 last year. This year, over 1,700 Yaba tablets had been seized
so far.

In on the act

CNB deputy director Muhammad Azni Sarbini said the local traffickers
dealing in Yaba tablets imagine that the authorities would not be
concerned about the drug.

They think that the bureau would not go after them, he added, because
Yaba tablets are usually sold only to Thai foreign workers.