Guidance Note for Completing the Questionnaire on Implementation of Recommendations

Guidance Note for completing the questionnaire on implementation of recommendations

The Secretariat kindly invites Governments to follow the guidelines below when replying to the questionnaire:

 Summarize action taken on the implementation of each recommendation in no more than 200 words;

 Provide complete references to legislation or to any other document if relevant for the implementation of each recommendation;

 Where possible and applicable, provide quantified data in addition to description of action taken;

 If applicable, provide information on the main obstacles to the implementation of a recommendation.

Issue I

Role of the Internet in addressing drug trafficking and abuse

Recommendation 1 Governments are encouraged to develop, with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), guidelines and standard operating procedures for handling digital evidence and investigations into Internet-related drug crimes and cryptocurrency seizures, as well as to identify modalities for sharing best practices and experiences in addressing those issues.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB)’s Investigation Division carries out investigations into internet-related drug trafficking cases by seizing digital exhibits such as mobile phones, laptops, hard-disks where there might be records of the drug transactions that were made. The exhibits will be sent for forensic analysis to extract records of drug activities made over the internet. The findings will then be provided in a report and the report may be used in court as evidence.

Recommendation 2 Governments are encouraged to allocate sufficient resources and build national capacities and capabilities in the field of online investigations, digital forensics and cryptocurrencies, as well as to cooperate with Internet service providers, in order to counter drug-related offences.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: CNB sends officers involved in online investigations for training and capacity building courses, such as the Open Source Intelligence Masterclass, Cyber Investigator Course and Cybercrime and Cybercrime Investigation Workshop.

These training course covers content related to the field of online investigations, digital forensics and cryptocurrencies and engagement with Internet Service Providers and enables capacity-building in topics such as investigating the “Dark Web”, latest tools for collecting and analysing social media intelligence, capturing, organising and storing web-based evidence for criminal and civil cases, cryptography, computer forensics and cybercrimology.

Recommendation 3 Governments should encourage their law enforcement agencies to set up specialized units to deal with the use of the Internet and other technologies for drug trafficking, with a special focus on investigations into the darknet and cryptocurrencies, to appoint focal points, as appropriate, and to ensure better integration between those units and their counterpart cybercrime units, as well as to conduct joint operations to counter the use of the Internet in the commission of drug-related crime.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: CNB’s Intelligence Division is constantly monitoring the use of the surface web, the darknet and other technologies in drug-related activities. The Intelligence Division is also on the constant look out for new technologies that would help in the investigations of web-enabled drug trafficking e.g. blockchain analysis tools that analyse targeted cryptocurrency movements to facilitate detection of possible illicit drug transactions and activities. CNB works closely with its counterpart from the Singapore Police Force to detect and deter the misuse of internet in the commission of drug-related crime.

Recommendation 4

Governments should continue to use the Internet to conduct awareness-raising and drug abuse prevention campaigns, targeting, in particular, young people.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments:

CNB embarked on a social media rebranding campaign in 2016 to consolidate the various social media assets under the brand name of CNB.DrugFreeSG and adopted a more youth-centric and light-hearted tonality of our social media voice. Efforts were stepped up in 2017 to establish a stronger social media presence, with the objective of growing a large and highly engaged digital community to challenge online drug-tolerant sentiments. For a start, CNB has focused on the expansion of our follower bases on the two most popular social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram. In general, Facebook is more popular with adults while Instagram appeals more to youths.

To maintain an ‘always-on’ presence on social media, CNB had invested in media buys (i.e. paid ads) to promote the visibility and reach of selected posts. This approach enables CNB to push relevant preventive drug education (PDE) messages to our targeted audiences based on their demographic profiles, which also act as a countermeasure to address their exposure to online influences.

As of Jul 2019, CNB had accumulated over 100,000 and 6,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram respectively. Leading up to 2020, CNB expects to sustain the momentum of our social media growth by continuing to produce emotive videos that tugged at the heart-strings, bite-sized PDE contents in the forms of short videos and concise infographics – based on scientific evidence from authoritative sources (e.g. medical bodies, research institutions) – to appeal to the rationality of local audiences and dispel drug myths.

Recommendation 5

Governments are encouraged to engage in and promote cooperation at the regional and international levels in the area of the use of the Internet and modern technologies in the commission of drug-related crimes through, inter alia, platforms for research and joint training.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments:

CNB actively participates in regional and international conferences and meetings where Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), industries and academia gather to share advancement and development in communication and cyber technologies as well as best practices. Most recently, CNB attended a workshop convened by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). It is a Public-Private Partnership platform, which INCB invited representatives and experts from governments, internet- related service companies and international organizations worldwide to meet and exchange experiences, latest information, and intelligence related to trafficking in NPS, synthetic opioids and precursors through the surface web, especially on e-commerce platforms.

CNB has seen an increase in the number of online drug trafficking cases over these past few years. The illegal narcotics being ordered through the internet are couriered into Singapore through legitimate logistics companies. To tackle these challenges, CNB supports and promotes the International Narcotics Enforcement Programme (INEP) where anti-narcotics agencies from the ASEAN region participate in combined training modules, of which one was a visit to logistics companies where the participants got to learn more about the challenges in policing contrabands within the logistics networks.

Issue II Measures to counter the illicit manufacturing of, the diversion of and trafficking in precursors Recommendation 1

Governments are encouraged to develop robust national legislation and regulatory mechanisms on precursor controls in order to better monitor and respond to flows of precursor chemicals.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: Singapore has put in place robust national legislation and regulatory mechanisms; to effectively monitor precursor chemicals and enforce against its illicit manufacturing, diversion or trafficking. The relevant legislation is found within the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). It provides for the offence to manufacture, supply, possess, import or export (including tranship) a controlled substance, knowing or having reason to believe that the controlled substance is to be used in the manufacture of any controlled drug as listed in the First Schedule of the MDA. Any person convicted of this offence shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding 20 years or with a fine not exceeding $200,000 or with both.

The MDA also provides for the Minister for Home Affairs to make regulations for: a) The licensing of persons who intend to import or export any controlled substances; b) The regulation and control of the import or export of any controlled substances; c) Imposing requirements for the registration of premises used in connection with the import or, export, manufacture, processing, storage, distribution or supply of any controlled substances; d) Imposing requirements as to the documentation of transactions involving any controlled substances; e) Requiring the keeping of records and the furnishing of information with respect to any controlled substances; f) The inspection and production of records kept pursuant to the regulations; and g) The labeling of consignments of any controlled substances.

These regulations have been enacted and may be found within the Misuse of Drugs (Controlled equipment, material and substances) regulations. Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of the regulations shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both, as may be specified in the regulations.

It shall not be a defence, for any person who commits an offence relating to a controlled substance under the MDA to claim that the controlled substance is the subject of a licence, permit, or any other form of authorisation granted by the regulations.

Recommendation 2

Governments should provide additional capacity-building opportunities to their national law enforcement, forensic and regulatory authorities with a view to improving the identification and interdiction of precursor chemicals, in particular those substances that are not commonly used.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: The Central Narcotics Bureau, the lead enforcement agency in Singapore that oversees the monitoring of precursor chemical import and export proposes workshops and awareness talk to traders, to build capability in identifying and interdicting precursor chemicals. CNB also conducts outreach sessions with pharmaceutical companies, freight forwarders, and other related industries, to improve understanding of new types of precursor chemicals, including those that might be susceptible to diversion.

Recommendation 3 Governments should improve their use of existing tools, such as Pre-Export Notification Online (PEN Online) and the Precursors Incident Communication System (PICS), developed by INCB to control precursor chemicals.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: Singapore uses the Pre-Export Notification Online (PEN Online) and the Project Ion Incident Communication System for reporting and specific officers are assigned to access and track Pen Online and PICS.

Recommendation 4 Government are encouraged to undertake additional efforts to assess how precursor chemicals are diverted and trafficked at the national and regional levels.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: CNB works in close cooperation with other national agencies like the Singapore Customs (SC) on information exchange of the diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals. SC updates CNB with the latest trends of precursor chemical shipments. CNB also collaborates with the National Maritime Sense-Making Group (NMSG) and the Singapore Maritime Crisis Centre (SMCC), managed by the Ministry Of Defence, for periodic updates of diversion of chemicals through the receipt of daily report of chemicals transiting in our waters. This enables CNB to be kept up to date with the precursor chemicals passing our borders and to assess whether they are diverted/trafficked.

Recommendation 5 Governments are encouraged to counter illicit financial flows related to the trafficking in and diversion of precursor chemicals.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: We have yet to encounter cases involving trafficking in and diversion of precursor chemicals. As such, this is recommendation is currently not applicable.

Recommendation 6

Governments on whose territories poppy cultivation is increasing should take measures to eliminate such cultivation, in order to reduce demand for and the flow of precursors.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: Not applicable to Singapore as we do not have poppy cultivation.

Issue III

Effective measures for coordinating border management strategies Recommendation 1

Governments are encouraged to consider linking the networks of border liaison offices and port control units, as well as to make better use of the existing mechanisms for regional and international cooperation, including functioning regional cooperation centres such as the Joint Planning Cell, the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre and the Criminal Information Centre to Combat Drugs of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as the networks of police and drug liaison officers based in the countries of the region

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: Singapore cooperates actively with foreign law enforcement agencies such as Malaysia’s NCID, Australia Federal Police, Indonesia BNN, etc, to tackle cross border drug activities. Such cooperation can range from the exchange of information and intelligence to joint investigations, operations. In the regional platforms, Singapore also actively engages ASEAN countries through programmes such as ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD), ASEAN Golden Triangle Cooperation Plan, ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Drug Matters (AMMD) and (ASORC) to share expertise and cooperate in the fight against drugs. In addition, CNB facilitates exchange of best practices for the purposes of combating trafficking of drugs and the establishment of direct contact points and action plan for timely exchange of information on illicit drug trafficking in the region.

Recommendation 2 Governments are encouraged to improve and strengthen cooperation at the national level between law enforcement and other relevant agencies involved in border control.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments:

Singapore is not a drug producing country and our supply of drugs originates from abroad. To address this challenge of cross-border inflow of drug, Singapore has re-organised our border control agencies with an objective to enhance cooperation between relevant law enforcement agencies involved in border control through the formation of the Integrated Checkpoints Command (ICC) which covers three different domains off border control – Air, Land and Sea.

The ICC comprises of three agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs – the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The ICC allows for agencies to leverage on each other’s strength and capabilities and synergise our efforts in border control, especially to stem the inflow of drugs into Singapore.

CNB is the lead agency for all drug matters. All information regarding drug trafficking activities will be channeled to CNB. At the ICC, CNB’s role is to prevent the flow of illicit drugs into Singapore. Another one of our key aim is also to prevent drug traffickers from exploiting Singapore’s geostrategic location as a transit hub, to smuggle drugs into other parts of the world, including into our neighbouring ASEAN partners.

The ICA oversees the clearance of cargos at our ports, as well as the people and baggage passing through our checkpoints This is to ensure that all movement at our borders are lawful and legitimate. Meanwhile, the SPF plays a key role in safeguarding the safety and security of individuals and infrastructures at all checkpoints.

Recommendation 3 Governments are encouraged to monitor more closely all movement of goods, not to be limited only to import, but also transit and export.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments:

CNB conducts regular joint operations with the ICA and routinely shares successful case studies with ICA to update them on the latest trends. We have also established working relationships with SingPost and the various major courier companies such as UPS and Amarex to share our knowledge and vice versa, so as to improve on the detection capabilities.

In addition, we have also shared the trend of parcels being using as a conduit for smuggling of drugs and drug taking utensils with the members of the Singapore Aircargo Agents Association (SAAA) through an outreach session and publishing articles in the association’s newsletter.

Recommendation 4 In order to increase knowledge about goods and supply chains and to ensure proper control measures, Governments are encouraged to actively promote cooperation between law enforcement and other relevant agencies and the private sector.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: CNB regularly engages the private sector to promote cooperation on ensuring proper control measures, particularly for the import and export of precursor chemicals. CNB conducts visits to up to 25 countries per month for audits, including surprise audits on high-risk traders. Trade circulars are also regularly served to traders to keep them informed on new chemicals added to the list of controlled substances and to emphasis on the importance of the prompt submission permit applications for the import and export of precursor chemicals.

Recommendation 5

Governments are encouraged to strengthen the capacities of the relevant agencies to collect, collate, analyse and share criminal intelligence, with a focus on the activities of organized criminal groups, including those involved in drug trafficking.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments:

Singapore actively cooperates with foreign law enforcement agencies such as Malaysia’s NCID and Thailand’s PNSB on a bilateral and regular basis. Such cooperation can range from the exchange of information and intelligence to joint investigations, operations. Other collaborations with our counterparts include conducting joint-training courses so that officers from participant countries can benefit from the sharing of best practices and experiences that helps to strengthen the capacities of agencies, especially in addressing cross-border drug trafficking.

In 2018, CNB conducted a total of 19 joint ops with our international counterparts with an objective to cripple cross-border drug syndicates.

CNB maintains liaison contacts with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) and the World Customs Organisation’s Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO), through its Asia and the Pacific office. In addition, CNB has been a member of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)’s International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) since 2007. CNB also participates in the Asia-Pacific Operational Drug Enforcement Conference (ADEC), the Meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) meetings and the ASEAN-China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drug (ACCORD) meetings to keep abreast of developments in the regional drug situation and to collect, collate and share information pertaining to drug trafficking. Maintaining the links with these networks enables CNB to collect, collate, analyse and share criminal intelligence through these channels.

Issue IV Practical measures tailored to the specific needs of children and young people to prevent and treat drug abuse among them and to address their involvement in drug-related crime, including cultivation and trafficking

Recommendation 1

Governments are encouraged to enhance cooperation among the education, health and law enforcement sectors at the national level with regard to prevention interventions that target young people

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: Continuous Education is one of the 5 work streams under the National Campaign Against Drugs introduced by CNB in 2017. This means CNB places continued emphasis on preventive drug education (PDE) in schools, to develop a strong PDE foundation that inoculates our youth population from young. To this end, one of our key approaches is to work with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to weave in PDE content into school syllabus at the national level.

At the Primary 4 & 5 levels, students learn about the harmful effects of drug addiction through the health education component of the Physical Education (PE).

For Lower Secondary Normal Technical Science students, CNB collaborated with MOE to develop a module “Drugs and their Effects” on their online portal “Student Learning Space” to facilitate their understanding of the harms of drugs through e-learning. This complements a module on “Wonders of my body: Taking good care of my body” in their science textbook.

For the rest of the Secondary School students, generic PDE messages to encourage students to stand up against bad influences and exercise self-control against addictive behaviour are also weaved into their Character and Citizenship Education.

These are in addition to a range of PDE programmes (e.g. PDE talks, exhibitions and skits, Anti-Drug Ambassador activity booklets) which CNB offers to the schools.

Further to this, CNB also works with MOE to appoint teacher advocates in every school as part of CNB’s Anti- Drug Abuse Advocacy (A3) network, so that they can spread anti-drug abuse messages through school programmes and CNB-organised initiatives. CNB also takes part in MOE events to share more on the drug abuse situation and update teachers on our latest PDE initiatives.

Recommendation 2

Governments are encouraged to enhance the knowledge and build the capacity of teachers and other relevant professionals, including through training courses, in the area of drug use prevention .

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: 12

CNB works with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to appoint teacher advocates in every school as part of CNB’s Anti-Drug Ambassador network, so that they can spread anti-drug abuse messages through school programmes and CNB-organised initiatives.

In 2016, CNB produced the Preventive Drug Education (PDE) toolkit for educators with inputs from MOE, to equip teachers with drug-related information, our laws and penalties, tips, helplines and lesson plans which they can readily use in class. This toolkit is also available on CNB’s corporate website and the ASEAN PDE Portal for easy access. With feedback gathered from the Persons-Of-Interest (POIs) such as teachers, counsellors, National Service (NS) Commanders and parents, CNB produced a set of message cards with colourful infographics and bite-sized information, adapted from the toolkit, for the POIs’ convenient use.

More recently, a workshop was also conducted for teacher advocates to review the use of the toolkits in Jan 2019. To keep teacher advocates abreast of the latest PDE initiatives, CNB also sends out a monthly e-newsletter to them.

In addition to the teacher advocates, CNB also conducts meetings with MOE and takes part in MOE events to share on the latest drug abuse situation and trends, and update teachers (including the trainee teachers) on our latest PDE initiatives.

Recommendation 3

Governments are encouraged to further enhance their drug use prevention programmes that target pre -school and primary school children, as well as young people.

Any action taken YES NO

Comments: As Singapore’s education system mandates compulsory primary education for all children above 6 years old and under 15 years old, schools offer a strategic platform for CNB to reach out to all Singaporean children at a young age. CNB offers PDE programmes, such as talks and sharing sessions, as well as interactive events such as skits, roadshows and roving exhibition in the form of a bus.

The Anti-Drug Ambassador Activity (AAA) which requires students (aged 10 and 11) to complete anti-drug activities and learn about the harms of drugs through an activity booklet is the most popular PDE programme among Primary School students. As part of the AAA activities, schools are also encouraged to submit anti-drug montage exhibition entries to show their support for a drug-free Singapore.

At secondary level, the most popular PDE programme is a badge scheme programme that CNB conducts together with the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association. Students from the various uniformed groups are required to take part in online quizzes and ground-up PDE initiatives to earn anti-drug badges.

In 2018, CNB also collaborated with two youths to conceptualise and produce an illustrated book, Captain Drug Buster vs Dr. Wacko: The Final Showdown. The first-of-its-kind PDE illustrated book serves to educate children (aged 7 to 9) on the harms of drugs and useful refusal tips through simple dialogues and illustrations. The book also serves as an anti-drug resource for parents to engage in conversations with their children on the topic of drugs. Copies of the book were distributed to primary school libraries and public libraries, and can also be downloaded from the CNB corporate website and ASEAN PDE Portal.

To reach out to youths through social media, CNB conducts video competitions for youths (aged 13 to 25) with a keen interest in video making, to provide a platform for them to share PDE messages with their peers and the community. Winning videos were shared on CNB’s social media platforms to raise awareness. CNB also works with the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) on collaboration projects with their students such as video or game productions, to achieve similar outcomes.

By leveraging on creative ambient marketing campaign, CNB aims to capture youth’s mindshare and garner their support for a drug-free society. Case in point was CNB’s set up of a pop-up installation “GURD Club” in a downtown area in 2017. Marketed as a pop-up underground club, more than 2,000 participants were treated to an interactive simulation of the short-lived highs and crashing lows of drug consumption. Such innovative physical engagements were well-received by youths and could bring across the anti-drug message more effectively.

CNB recruits youths as Anti-Drug Advocates (ADAs), as part of CNB’s Anti-Drug Abuse Advocacy (A3) network, to give youths a voice to influence drug policies and shore up resilience against drug abuse within the youth community.