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Trial underway for two men arrested in police drug raid on Sentosa hotel party
Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng and Tan Li Ming are fighting charges of consuming MDMA, also known as the stimulant drug "ecstasy".
Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng (left) and Tan Li Ming (right) arriving at the State Courts on Jul 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)
Davina Tham
15 Jul 2025 01:32PM (Updated: 15 Jul 2025 06:08PM)
SINGAPORE: Two men who were arrested during a drug raid at a party held at a Sentosa hotel villa in 2023 went on trial on Tuesday (Jul 15) to fight charges of consuming MDMA.
Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng, 35, and Tan Li Ming, 28, are each contesting a single charge of consuming a controlled drug on or before Aug 9, 2023.
The offence carries between one and 10 years' jail and a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7,800).
A total of 49 men were arrested at the party, which was believed to have been organised through a closed chat group. Substances including ecstasy and ketamine and drug paraphernalia were seized during the raid. MDMA, which brings on hallucinogenic and stimulant effects, is also known as "ecstasy".
The court heard that Dr Lee and Tan attended the party at Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa between 8pm on Aug 8, 2023 and the early hours of Aug 9. They had various drinks at the gathering.
At about 5.40am on Aug 9, police officers raided the hotel villa after receiving information about drug-related activity taking place there. The party attendees were arrested at about 10.15am.
Dr Lee and Tan each provided two urine samples and one hair sample. Under analysis by the Health Sciences Authority, all the samples were found to contain MDMA. The hair samples also contained ketamine.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Jocelyn Teo and Dhiraj G Chainani said in their opening statement that the legal effect of this is that each man is presumed to have consumed MDMA "until the contrary is proved".
They noted that Dr Lee and Tan did not challenge that their urine samples were obtained according to regulations, and the samples were found to contain MDMA.
"Given the statutory presumption in Section 22 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, the burden of proof rests upon Mr Tan and Dr Lee to rebut the presumption on a balance of probabilities," they added.
Both men are defended by lawyer Tania Chin. Their trial is expected to continue at the State Courts until Thursday, with further hearing dates scheduled later this month.
SUSPECT BELIEVED HIS DRINK WAS SPIKED
During a witness questioning of Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers on Tuesday afternoon, portions of the statements that the officers recorded from Tan were read out in court.In the statements, recorded after his arrest, Tan said that he had no intention to consume drugs and did so unknowingly.
He also said that he and some friends from overseas were attending a birthday party that night and he did not know it was a "drugs party".
He added that at the party, he finished two cups of soft drink and did not detect any odd taste or smell from the beverages.
He then saw a group of five to six men, whom he did not recognise, preparing the soft drinks in plastic cups. He claimed that they used a syringe to draw an unknown liquid from a bottle and injected it into the cups.
He suspected that the men were injecting drugs into the drinks and that the two drinks he consumed earlier had been spiked, Tan said in his statement.
After witnessing this scene, he took a third drink and saw an unknown residue at the bottom of the cup after consuming it.
He claimed that this was when he realised the drink could contain drugs and he blacked out later.
Ms Chin the defence lawyer questioned why enforcement officers did not seize the plastic cups from the hotel, and whether this evidence was relevant to the CNB officer's recommendation to prosecute Tan.
CNB officer Ahmad Asyraf Aziz said he could not comment on this since he was not one of the officers at the hotel making the arrests and seizures. He added that he made his recommendation based on Tan's positive urine samples.
Earlier, the officer testified that Tan's case was referred to him as a "denial case". These are cases where a controlled drug is found in a suspect's urine sample, but the suspect denies taking the drug.
Generally, in such cases, CNB will prosecute the suspect, the officer added.
He also said that a suspect who admits to drug consumption is moved to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre. This does not leave a criminal record.
