SPOOKED peddlers are no longer selling banned sexual-enhancement drug Power 1 Walnut in the red-light Desker Road district after raids by health authorities.

But where two weeks ago you could still readily buy other illegal sex drugs, sellers are now lying low.

Checks by LifeStyle two weeks ago found seven to eight sellers openly flogging sex drugs on makeshift stalls down a dark alley between Desker and Rowell roads.

But last week, while the stalls were still there, they were empty and unlit.

Hiding in the shadows, though, were still two to three sellers. When this reporter lingered, they stepped out to ask 'want sex drug?' in Mandarin. They then went into the doorways of nearby shophouses to bring out their wares.

One of the sellers said they were afraid of raids and so they have kept their goods hidden and become more discreet.

He added: 'I am registered but my licence is for selling sex toys, so I cannot display drugs openly. Police will catch.'

Since last month, police and health authorities have seized more than 80,000 units of illegal products, including 2,000 Power 1 Walnut pills.

Vendors face a two-year jail term and could be fined up to $10,000 under the Poisons Act, or jailed up to two years with a fine of up to $5,000 under the Medicines Act.

Taking made-in-China Power 1 Walnut led to a rash of cases of men being hospitalised over the past two months with severe reactions such as potentially fatal low blood-sugar levels.

Confirmed cases total 16 so far, plus 44 suspected cases.

Health officials have described the Power 1 Walnut case as the most serious example of adverse reaction to an illegal sex drug here, and warned against buying health products from dubious sources such as street peddlers and makeshift stalls.

Indeed, all of the stricken, aged between 20 and 90, bought the drug from illegal vendors in the Desker Road area.

The quiet scene down the Desker Road dark alley was a far cry from when LifeStyle visited two weeks ago.

Then, the same seller who spoke to LifeStyle last week was openly selling illegal sex drugs at a brightly lit stall.

He insisted he was licensed and registered to sell them, and he was offering them cheap to help 'the old and the poor'.

He said in Mandarin: 'They are old and have no money. I sell these sex drugs cheap so that they can have an outlet. It's so expensive to see a doctor, about $60 per consultation.'

Displayed in open suitcases atop tables, about seven 'stalls' manned by Chinese men in their 40s to 60s offered a dizzying range of libido-enhancing products.

Ranging from illegal pills and capsules to sprays or wipe-ons, almost every single type of sexual performance-enhancing contraption could be had here for between $8 and $40.

Indian and Chinese foreign workers in their mid-20s to 30s, along with a small number of older locals, were snapping them up.

The only jagged little pill missing? Power 1 Walnut.

One peddler said he heard about the problems it caused and stopped selling it, but assured that his other brands were safe.

That omission provided little relief - because among packagings featuring pictures of scantily-clad women were pills purporting to be Viagra.

Viagra is available only by prescription here, but the vendors were selling a packet of four tablets for $40.

Two claimed their Viagra was the real deal.

Still, it was unlikely that the white and blue packets alongside brands such as Handsome Up, Delay King and Magic Power in a suitcase in a dark alley contained the genuine American drug.

This story was first published in thesundaytimes on Mar 23, 2008.