Looks like a cinnamon roll but could harm you: CNB officer shares strangest places suspects have hidden drugs
At first glance, it looked just like any regular HDB flat in Bedok.
But when Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers raided the unit at Siglap Walk in June 2021, they discovered that its occupants were running a sinister "home bakery business" of sorts.
Speaking to AsiaOne on Tuesday (Jan 17), Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Oh Hui Quan, 34, shared how her team of more than 15 officers seized 51 cannabis-infused baked goods and butter during an operation where four suspects were arrested.
The seized items — 32 cookies, 16 cinnamon rolls and three brownies, along with 3,159g of cannabis, 14g of Ice, 9g of cocaine, 79 Ecstasy tablets, one Erimin-5 tablet, 108 LSD stamps — had a street value of over $57,000.
It was the team's first time encountering food products that were infused with drugs, said Oh who has been with CNB for 11 years.
The senior investigation officer added: "[The baked goods] were quite interesting. They looked and smelled buttery like normal cookies.
"It was innovative to prevent detection by us. If you take one look, you can't really tell the difference."
Drug traffickers getting more ‘innovative’
While there are still instances of drugs found in hidden compartments of vehicles, Oh shared other cases where drug traffickers have become more ‘innovative’ recently.
In August 2020, a 64-year-old Singaporean was arrested after 240g of heroin and about 500 Ecstasy tablets were found inside two pumpkins near a flat along Clementi Avenue 5.
CNB officers had previously conducted a drug raid in July that year, where 317g of ketamine was found inside a coconut at a flat along Upper Serangoon Road. Three people aged between 37 and 60 were arrested for suspected drug activities.
And in September last year, cannabis concealed in a fire extinguisher were among the drugs seized in a raid along Rivervale Street.
By talking to the suspects during investigations, Oh shared that she has become more aware of the various "innovative" tactics that they employ to evade detection.
"The challenge really lies in the arresting officer. It's really based on their intelligence and admission cues [of the suspects]," she said.
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Oh spoke with AsiaOne on the sidelines of an awards ceremony at the Home Team Academy today, where more than 200 Home Team officers were commended by Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam for “demonstrating efficiency and competency” in their work.
She received an award for leading investigations into the anti-drug operation in Bedok.
The total amount of drugs seized from the operation is sufficient to feed about 520 cannabis abusers for a week, according to CNB.
While cannabis has been decriminalised or legalised in various places around the world, CNB said: "There is well-founded and strong research that has shown short-term and long-term adverse effects associated with cannabis use, including impairments to one's respiratory and cognitive functions.
"These findings corroborate with Singapore's position that cannabis should remain an illicit drug."
And with cannabis edibles, including candies and cakes, more widely available in other countries, CNB said last year that they are "irresponsibly marketed as harmless consumables" that may entice "unsuspecting youths to consume them, get intoxicated, and risk overdosing".
chingshijie@asiaone.com
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