Drug suspect climbs out 9th-storey window and loses footing, CNB officer suffers injury rescuing him

Drug suspect climbs out 9th-storey window and loses footing, CNB officer suffers injury rescuing him
A 25-year-old man attempted to escape arrest by climbing out of a bedroom window of a ninth-floor residential unit on March 20.
PHOTO: CNB

SINGAPORE - Officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) saved a drug trafficking suspect from falling out of a flat on the ninth floor as the man attempted to escape arrest.

The incident happened during one of two separate raids in which six Singaporeans, including a pregnant woman, were arrested, said the drug enforcement agency on Wednesday.

Three men, aged between 23 and 30, as well as a 28-year-old woman, were arrested at a residential unit in Bedok North Road on Monday evening.

The raid escalated into a “life and death situation” when one of the men climbed out of a bedroom window of the ninth-floor flat and lost his footing, CNB said.

Multiple officers pulled the struggling suspect, 25, to safety, before he was arrested for drug trafficking.

“A suspected drug offender had total disregard for his own safety and that of others while attempting to evade arrest,” said Superintendent William Tan, CNB’s senior assistant director of intelligence operations.

“This turned into a life and death situation when our officer, who was arresting the suspect, had to hold on to the suspect when the latter lost his footing. Our officers have to make split-second decisions during operations, even placing themselves in great danger to ensure the safe arrest of suspects.”

The CNB officer suffered deep lacerations to his right arm when preventing the suspect’s fall and was taken to hospital for treatment.

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In an earlier operation on Monday evening, CNB officers arrested a 28-year-old man and a 26-year-old pregnant woman in another flat in Bedok North Road.

The woman, whose nine-month-old child was in the flat during the raid, was arrested for drug consumption. Her child has been placed in the custody of a next of kin, CNB said.

The man had evaded an earlier arrest attempt in the early hours of Monday morning and crashed his van near Kaki Bukit Avenue 3. Nearly 1kg of heroin was recovered from the van.

In total, about 437g of methamphetamine, or Ice, 1,322g of heroin, five Ecstasy tablets and 18 tablets suspected to contain other controlled drugs with an estimated street value of $158,500 were seized from the two flats and the van.

The amount of Ice would be enough to feed the addiction of about 250 abusers a week, while the 1,322g of heroin seized can meet the needs of around 630 abusers a week.

Apart from the pregnant woman, the suspects were all arrested for drug trafficking offences.

Any person found guilty of trafficking more than 15g of pure heroin or 250g of methamphetamine faces the death penalty.

Investigations into the six arrested suspects are ongoing.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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