Metal steps inside the drain led The Straits Times into a labyrinth of dark passages.
The building is surrounded by a fence and locked gates, but the drain was accessible through a metal manhole cover. The drain sits about 100m from a two-storey building which previously housed factories. No one was arrested during the operation, but officers found a range of items that suggested one vacant building in the area was used as a drug den, and a concealed drain measuring about 90cm wide and 2m high was used as a hideout. The media was allowed to visit the sites after law enforcement officers completed their search of the premises. The Singapore Police Force and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Dec 5 conducted an operation, with assistance from JTC Corporation, to flush out unauthorised individuals, including illegal immigrants, in the Sungei Kadut industrial estate area. SINGAPORE – The authorities are clamping down on criminal activities taking place in vacant buildings in industrial areas, including premises that have been used by illegal immigrants as hideouts.
