SINGAPORE — In an attempt to avoid being caught smuggling drugs, Andrew John Marsland lied to a security officer at Changi Airport, saying he had a pacemaker in his body so that he would not have to walk through the body scanner.

But his efforts were thwarted when the officer patted him down and felt hard objects at his waist, which turned out to be 177 pellets containing cocaine. Some of them had been stored in condoms.

For attempting to export at least 29.99g of the controlled drug out of Singapore, the 49-year-old South African was sentenced to 26 years’ jail and 15 strokes of the cane on Wednesday (Oct 9).

The court heard that Marsland was nabbed on July 31 last year, after arriving at Changi Airport from Zurich, Switzerland.

Someone identified as “Tony” had recruited him in South Africa to deliver drugs across borders, court documents showed, though it was not stated when Marsland began doing so.

He was promised US$2,000 (S$2,760) for each successful job, and had already completed four by the time he was caught in Singapore. They all involved transporting drugs from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Bangkok, Thailand through either Phuket or Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

MEANT TO BE HIS FINAL JOB

On July 31 last year, Marsland had landed in Singapore for what was meant to be his fifth and final job, after collecting the cocaine in Sao Paulo three days earlier. 

Another man in the operation had left the drugs in a black paper bag in a restaurant toilet for him to collect. The bag held 150 individual pellets and three condoms, each containing nine pellets.

Marsland put all of these into a customised pair of shorts, left behind for him together with the drugs, which had special compartments to store the pellets. 

He then wore his own pair of cycling tights over the shorts and squeezed the condoms containing the pellets between the shorts and his skin. He finally put on a pair of trousers over the shorts and tights.

After alighting in Singapore, Marsland went to Terminal 4 to take another flight to Phuket.

He cleared immigration through the automated counter and went to the centralised screening area for a security check at about 10.40am.

When asked to walk through the body scanner, he told the aviation security officer he could not because he had a pacemaker.

After a pat-down, the officer asked him why there were hard objects at his waist, and Marsland replied that he was wearing shorts inside.

Security officers took him to a search room and arrested him after discovering the drugs. He was then taken to the Central Narcotics Bureau’s headquarters for further investigations.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Lim Jian Yi and Gabriel Lim sought the sentence that was imposed, noting that the amount of cocaine he had knowingly tried to export was “just below the capital threshold”.

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, Marsland could have been jailed up to 30 years or for life. Offenders who traffick in more than 30g of cocaine may receive the death penalty.