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Jan 25, 2011
Drug arrests dip to 4-year low
Number down to 1,772 last year but more caught for abusing heroin and Ice, says CNB
By Kimberly Spykerman
THE number of arrests for taking or possessing drugs fell to a four-year low of 1,772 last year. In 2009, the figure was 1,883.
But the number of those nabbed for one drug - heroin - continued to go up for the fifth year running, and made up the bulk of last year's arrests, according to the Central Narcotics Bureau's (CNB) annual report.
The number of heroin abusers last year - 1,179 - was up from 1,080 in 2009, 885 in 2008 and 670 in 2007. Most were repeat offenders.
Besides heroin, the other drug that saw more arrests was Ice - with 379 people nabbed, up from 2009's figure of 357. Ice and heroin accounted for about 88 per cent of the total number of drug busts last year.
The bureau's seizure of $10.4 million worth of drugs - a $3.7 million increase from 2009 - was attributed in part to an increase in the supply of heroin and Ice in the region, as well as a doubling of enforcement efforts at checkpoints by the police and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
A report published last month by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted a 'relentless rise' in opium poppy cultivation in South-east Asia over the past three years, a situation exacerbated by the recent global economic crisis.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
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