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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - PRCs selling lethal sex drugs in Geylang</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">5:22 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>11339.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Peddlers use novel tricks to hide sex drugs
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>But enforcement officers come with equally wily response to flush them out </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow
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Two women are seen peddling illegal sex drugs in smaller bags and plastic bags to a few male customers along Geylang Road off Lorong 22 one evening in January. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
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SUBTERFUGE is now the name of the game among those peddling illegal sex drugs in Geylang.
Gone are the big suitcases and open selling of these pills, including counterfeit Cialis and Viagra, purported to enhance sexual performance to interested street buyers, mostly men in their late 40s and above.
Nowadays, to beat the police or the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) raid team, peddlers carry their illegal stashes in small pouches, haversacks and even nondescript plastic bags, and hide the rest in drain gutters, behind water pipes and circuit boxes.
They also dress to go unnoticed and to be able to melt into the crowds in the streets and the back alleys of the red-light district.
Ms Ruth Lee, the deputy director of HSA's enforcement operations, said of the peddlers, who are mostly Singaporeans or Chinese nationals: 'They are getting smarter, coming up with more novel ways to hide the drugs and go undetected... At times, we end up going on a wild goose chase.'
The change in their tactics has called for an equally wily response from enforcement officers so that the peddlers and their goods can be flushed out.
The sex drugs sold include Power 1 Walnut, Santi Bovine Penis Erecting Capsule and Zhong Hua Niu Bian - pills that have made almost 300 men here ill; 10 have died since February last year (see box).
A couple of hours before a raid, inspectors would stake out the neighbourhood coffee shops, observing the comings and goings.
The trade starts at around 6pm.
Ms Lee said most peddlers dress down. They wear singlets, shorts and slippers to blend in; as members of syndicates, they have many accomplices who can recognise enforcement officers and vehicles.
Many a raid has had to be called off because the peddlers were alerted and managed to slip away.
Some do not get away - like the Chinese national nabbed near Geylang Lorong 24 in the most recent raid last week.
Ten enforcement officers descended on the 38-year-old woman when she stopped to pick up her dropped plastic bag of contraband aphrodisiacs.
Her two accomplices escaped.
The woman admitted that the 50 pills in the bag were hers and pleaded unsuccessfully with officers to let her off the hook.
Upon questioning, she led the officers to a nearby terrace house where she had rented a bed.
There, her cupboard, suitcases and the storerooms were searched, but nothing beyond a list of contact numbers was found.
The more than 30 raids on illegal sex drugs conducted between February last year and last month have also taken place in Joo Chiat, Desker Road and Golden Mile Shopping Centre, said HSA's enforcement and complementary medicines division director Yee Shen Kuan.
The street value of the 60,000 units of drugs seized in these raids was estimated at $1.5 million.
Over the period, 19 people were convicted, most of them Singaporean men. Those found guilty of offences under the Poisons Act can be jailed up to two years and fined up to $10,000 on each charge.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>But enforcement officers come with equally wily response to flush them out </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Two women are seen peddling illegal sex drugs in smaller bags and plastic bags to a few male customers along Geylang Road off Lorong 22 one evening in January. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
SUBTERFUGE is now the name of the game among those peddling illegal sex drugs in Geylang.
Gone are the big suitcases and open selling of these pills, including counterfeit Cialis and Viagra, purported to enhance sexual performance to interested street buyers, mostly men in their late 40s and above.
Nowadays, to beat the police or the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) raid team, peddlers carry their illegal stashes in small pouches, haversacks and even nondescript plastic bags, and hide the rest in drain gutters, behind water pipes and circuit boxes.
They also dress to go unnoticed and to be able to melt into the crowds in the streets and the back alleys of the red-light district.
Ms Ruth Lee, the deputy director of HSA's enforcement operations, said of the peddlers, who are mostly Singaporeans or Chinese nationals: 'They are getting smarter, coming up with more novel ways to hide the drugs and go undetected... At times, we end up going on a wild goose chase.'
The change in their tactics has called for an equally wily response from enforcement officers so that the peddlers and their goods can be flushed out.
The sex drugs sold include Power 1 Walnut, Santi Bovine Penis Erecting Capsule and Zhong Hua Niu Bian - pills that have made almost 300 men here ill; 10 have died since February last year (see box).
A couple of hours before a raid, inspectors would stake out the neighbourhood coffee shops, observing the comings and goings.
The trade starts at around 6pm.
Ms Lee said most peddlers dress down. They wear singlets, shorts and slippers to blend in; as members of syndicates, they have many accomplices who can recognise enforcement officers and vehicles.
Many a raid has had to be called off because the peddlers were alerted and managed to slip away.
Some do not get away - like the Chinese national nabbed near Geylang Lorong 24 in the most recent raid last week.
Ten enforcement officers descended on the 38-year-old woman when she stopped to pick up her dropped plastic bag of contraband aphrodisiacs.
Her two accomplices escaped.
The woman admitted that the 50 pills in the bag were hers and pleaded unsuccessfully with officers to let her off the hook.
Upon questioning, she led the officers to a nearby terrace house where she had rented a bed.
There, her cupboard, suitcases and the storerooms were searched, but nothing beyond a list of contact numbers was found.
The more than 30 raids on illegal sex drugs conducted between February last year and last month have also taken place in Joo Chiat, Desker Road and Golden Mile Shopping Centre, said HSA's enforcement and complementary medicines division director Yee Shen Kuan.
The street value of the 60,000 units of drugs seized in these raids was estimated at $1.5 million.
Over the period, 19 people were convicted, most of them Singaporean men. Those found guilty of offences under the Poisons Act can be jailed up to two years and fined up to $10,000 on each charge.
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