Drugs found in car that tried to flee Tuas Checkpoint: M'sian driver, 40 & passenger, 53, arrested

Two Malaysian men, a 40-year-old driver and his 53-year-old passenger, who allegedly tried to evade arrival clearance at Tuas Checkpoint on Feb. 22, were arrested.

Various drug paraphernalia, as well as 97g of heroin, 69g of methamphetamine or “Ice”, three Erimin-5 tablets, and 27 tablets, believed to contain controlled drugs, were found in a pouch under the front passenger seat and on the driver, who did not have a valid travel document at the time.

Travelled against flow of traffic

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Feb. 25 that officers at Tuas Checkpoint had seen the car driving towards the arrival motorcycle zone at about 2:45pm on Feb. 22.

The vehicle had made an unauthorised U-turn at the entrance and travelled towards Malaysia against the flow of arriving traffic, which posed a danger to other road users.

Officers were immediately instructed to intercept the vehicle, ICA said.

The Singapore authority alerted its Malaysian counterparts at the Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) when the car headed back towards Malaysia.

The same vehicle then re-entered Tuas Checkpoint at about 3pm.

This led to an immediate lockdown of the checkpoint, ICA said.

The car sped through one of the lanes and damaged a drop-arm barrier at the arrival cargo zone.

It was then brought to a stop.

No injuries were reported.

A video previously showed a car speeding in the opposite lane while being chased by auxiliary police.

Both the driver and passenger were handed over to the Central Narcotics Bureau.

Investigations into the drug-related offences are ongoing.

The driver is also being investigated by ICA for various immigration offences, and by the traffic police for rash driving and other driving offences.

Top photo via online video