A Malaysia-registered car that attempted to evade arrival clearance at Tuas Checkpoint was later intercepted upon re-entry, with drugs found in the vehicle.
In a news release on Wednesday (25 Feb), the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the car had attempted to evade arrival clearance at Tuas Checkpoint on Sunday (22 Feb).
At about 2.44pm, ICA officers detected the car heading towards the Arrival Motorcycle Zone at Tuas Checkpoint.
The vehicle made an unauthorised U-turn at the entrance and proceeded to drive against the flow of arriving traffic towards Malaysia, posing a danger to other road users.
Source: Shan Man via Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers on Facebook
Before officers could intercept it, the driver turned the car back towards Malaysia.
ICA immediately alerted Malaysian authorities at the Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) to keep a lookout for the vehicle.
According to a media statement issued on Monday (23 Feb) by the Iskandar Puteri district police chief, the same vehicle was involved in an earlier incident at KSAB at about 2.40pm that day.
The car was reported to have entered Gate C, which is designated for heavy vehicles travelling from Malaysia into Singapore.
An auxiliary police officer directed the driver to make a U-turn into the proper car lane, but the driver allegedly refused to comply.
Instead, the vehicle accelerated, crashing into an immigration checkpoint barrier and four traffic cones before heading towards the exit bound for Singapore.
Source: Shan Man via Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers on Facebook
Malaysian police are investigating the case under Section 427 of the Penal Code for mischief and Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for reckless and dangerous driving.
At about 3pm, the same vehicle re-entered Tuas Checkpoint and was spotted by an ICA officer stationed at the entrance towards Malaysia.
A lockdown of the checkpoint was immediately activated. The car dashed through one of the lanes and damaged a drop-arm barrier at the Arrival Cargo Zone before being brought to a stop.
Officers arrested a 40-year-old Malaysian driver and a 53-year-old Malaysian passenger. No injuries were reported.
ICA said officers found about 97g of heroin, 69g of crystal methamphetamine, three Erimin-5 tablets, 27 tablets believed to contain controlled drugs, and various drug paraphernalia.
The items were recovered from the driver and from a pouch located under the front passenger seat. The driver was also not in possession of a valid travel document at the time.
Both men were handed over to the Central Narcotics Bureau, and investigations into the drug-related offences are ongoing.
The driver is also being investigated by ICA for immigration offences, and by Singapore’s Traffic Police for rash driving and other driving offences.
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Featured image adapted from Shan Man via Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers on Facebook.