Two S'pore celebrities in drug link
ANN/ The Straits Times
TWO local celebrities -- rapper-actor Sheikh Haikel and Channel NewsAsia (CNA) presenter Cheryl Fox -- have been linked to the cocaine trafficking syndicate busted last week. Both were arrested by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on suspicion of consuming illicit drugs, but their initial urine tests were negative. They are out on bail pending the results of further, more thorough tests being carried out by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). The test results are expected next week. Mr Haikel and Ms Fox are the latest high-profile personalities involved in last week's bust, in which 23 people were arrested. Three people have already been charged with trafficking, and another six with drug consumption or possession. The six include Dinesh Singh Bhatia, the eldest son of former Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and former Nominated Member of Parliament Kanwaljit Soin; Nigel Bruce Simmonds, the editor of high-society magazine Singapore Tatler; and French chef Francois Fabien Mermilliod. A CNB spokesman confirmed that Mr Haikel, 28, was among the 23 arrested, although he has not been charged. He was at the house of alleged syndicate leader Marx Oh on Thursday night when CNB officers moved in. The officers found 2.3g of cocaine and 23.6g of cannabis in Oh's Hyde Park Gate home in Seletar Camp. Mr Haikel released a statement through his lawyer, Mr Samuel Seow, yesterday. It said: ""I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.'' Ms Fox, 28, was not among the group of 23 arrested last Thursday night, but was instructed to turn up at the CNB office in Cantonment Road on Friday morning. It is understood that she has close ties with Oh, though the exact nature of their relationship is not certain. They have been spotted together often at a pub in Seletar, near Oh's home. A staffer at the pub said: ""They usually come in for dinner, have some drinks at the bar and watch soccer on the television with other friends.'' A MediaCorp spokesman said yesterday that Ms Fox is on leave, but would not say for how long. She did not answer calls to her mobile phone made by The Straits Times. Oh, a 31-year-old director of an events management company, was charged last Friday with trafficking, along with two others ... the marketing manager of Bobby Rubino's restaurant, Tunisian Guiga Lyes Ben Laroussi, and Mariana Abdullah, Laroussi's Singaporean girlfriend. All three face the death penalty if convicted. Meanwhile, The Straits Times has learnt that Tatler's editor, Simmonds, had to spend four days in jail despite being granted bail of $20,000 last Friday, as he and his Japanese wife could not find a Singaporean to be the bailor. The Briton was only released on Tuesday evening after a family friend came forward to stand as his surety.
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