Singapore and the government of Singapore, have been criticized in the past for the strict, and often times brutal, laws regarding crime. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has on of the most staunch positions on drug sales and trafficking. He states that nothing will bring a society down quicker than the sale of and eventual over-use of drugs by the people of any given culture. Many of those convicted of such crimes are punished quickly and rapidly, receiving the same punishment as rapists and child molesters. Life term jail sentences or in some cases, the death penalty. Consequently, the people of Singapore are known for their law-abiding nature, which has recently received notice and is being taken advantage of by West Nigerian drug smugglers. And as in many cases of terrorists acts, or organized crime, many are willing to do what ever it takes, for how ever long it takes, in order to ensure that their plans are carried out. They will wait for very long periods of time if the payoff is big enough and worth the risk. However, what has been under investigation for years by the Central Narcotic Bureau, is an organization that puts unsuspecting women in the most risk.
As stated before, Singaporeans are known as law abiding and gentle people, and that is no more true than of the women of the country. What is becoming quite commonplace, is that Nigerian men are befriending and creating romantic involvements with these women and then convincing them to carry drugs across various borders in different countries. The women, passing through customs, often do so based on the generalization of that law abiding citizen from Singapore and are rarely stopped or questioned. They are the perfect fall guy because so rarely do they fall. “Chance” meetings, in bars or luxury Singapore business hotels, wherein the Nigerian men woo the women, begin the process. One man under investigation reportedly had a three year love affair with a Singaporean woman, leading up to the one trip she would make for him delivering cocaine. She did get caught and is now serving a life sentence in prison. The men are banking, literally and figuratively, on what these women will do in the name of love. It is a scam that has been going on for years, however it is now a well known scam that authorities and the women of Singapore are becoming aware of.
