S'porean man, 31, who delivered drugs to S'pore from M'sia gets over 27 years' jail

A 31-year-old Singaporean man who acted as the "local distributor" for a Malaysia-based drug syndicate was sentenced to over 27 years in jail after he was caught delivering drugs into Singapore.

Tan Guosheng was sentenced to 27 years and seven months in jail, and 15 strokes of the cane on Mar. 17, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

Less than two months prior, Lian Hoe Heng, 58, admitted to working for a Malaysia-based drug syndicate and was said to have a role equivalent to that of a "chief operating officer".

He also admitted to instructing Tan to traffic 249.99g of methamphetamine, which is just below the 250g threshold that carries the mandatory death penalty.

Charges of trafficking drug quantities just below the threshold may come about as a matter of the prosecution exercising its discretion, in what was described in parliament as the "non-capital trafficking avenue".

In court documents seen by Mothership, Deputy Public Prosecutor Brian Tan said Tan Guosheng acted as the "local distributor" for the syndicate in Singapore.

He would collect, weigh, repack, store, and deliver a wide variety of drugs to customers before laundering monies back to the syndicate.

Sometime in July to August 2020, Tan would collect drugs that had been dropped off by others at Lian's instructions.

In some instances, Tan would weigh and repack the drugs, delivering the drugs to customers in person or by placing the drugs at secluded pre-arranged drop-off points in Singapore.

He would also collect cash payments from the customers and would deposit the cash payments into bank accounts in Singapore belonging to Lian.

The drugs included methamphetamine, ketamine, cannabis, and MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy tablets).

Tan would be paid with either methamphetamine or money and would receive S$1,000 for each drug collection and S$100 out of the drug payments he collected.

On Oct. 7, 2020, Tan went to collect a methamphetamine package and money from a buyer.

After depositing the money, Tan kept the package in the rear passenger seat of his car before driving back to his rented residence.

Tan was arrested by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers upon alighting at his residence, and the drugs found in Tan's car and house were seized.

Traces of MDMA and methamphetamine were also found in Tan's urine sample.

Lian was sentenced to 25 years and seven months imprisonment on Dec. 30, 2024.

Adam Koh Yong Sheng, another drug runner who worked for Lian, was sentenced to 24 years and four months’ imprisonment.

Top image via Canva.