Singaporean arrested with 4,000 ecstasy pills in Songkhla, attempts suicide

Posted <abbr class="published" title="2010-09-14T05:50:18+00:00">Today, 12:50
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<abbr class="published" title="2010-09-14T05:50:18+00:00"></abbr>Singaporean arrested with 4,000 ecstasy pills in Songkhla, attempts suicide

SONGKHLA: -- A Singaporean man was arrested Tuesday at a Thai-Malaysian border checkpoint in Sadao district of Songkhla province with more than 4,000 ecstasy pills and other illicit drugs, worth Bt3.5 million (about US$113,800), according to a Thai customs official.

When the authorities found the drugs and arrested the man carrying them, he went berserk and tried to attempt suicide by cutting his wrists and throat.

Paisarn Chuenjit, head of Sadao Customs House, said 46-year-old Ang Beng Bee was stopped when customs and immigration officers randomly checked a passenger van coming from Malaysia to Thailand on which Mr Bee was a passenger.

While searching the vehicle, the officials noticed the Singaporean man behaving suspiciously. So they checked his baggage and found 4,384 pills of ecstasy, one gramme of crystal methamphetamine or ‘ice,’ and five Erimin 5 (nimetazepam) pills, with an overall street value of about $113,800.

The detainee, who can understand and speak Thai fluently, said that he travelled from Malaysia’s Johor Bahru state to sell the illicit drugs to tourists in Sadao and Hat Yai. Initially, customs officials seized all the drugs and detained the Singaporean nationalat Sadao customs house for further investigation.

While being detained, Mr Bee apparently lost his mind and slashed his wrists and neck with a blade. He was immediately sent to Sadao Hospital for medical treatment and currently is recovering. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-09-14

S'porean hurts self after arrest


Sep 15, 2010
S'porean hurts self after arrest

By Mavis Toh

A SINGAPOREAN man busted for smuggling drugs across the Thai-Malaysian border checkpoint yesterday slashed himself after his arrest. The man, caught in the Sadao district of Songkhla in Thailand, was reported to have been carrying more than 4,000 Ecstasy pills and other drugs.

Officers from the Sadao Customs said the van, which Ang Beng Bee was in, was randomly checked en route to Thailand from Malaysia. It was the 46-year-old's suspicious behaviour that led officers to look into his luggage.

There, they found a stash of drugs with an estimated street value of $152,120. News reports in Thailand said that Ang resisted the officers' attempts to detain him and later attempted to kill himself by slashing his wrists and throat with a razor.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.