Nearly 2,200 drug addicts nabbed in Singapore last year

Nearly 2,200 drug abusers were arrested in 2007, a 78 percent increase from 2006 when 1,218 were arrested, the TV Channel NewsAsia reported on Tuesday.

The TV channel NewsAsia quoted the Central Narcotics Bureau ( CNB) as saying that most of those arrested were subutex abusers, followed by heroin abusers, said the report.

The Bureau also pointed out that most of the druggers, or 77 percent, were repeat abusers, while the proportion of first time drug abusers arrested decreased from 39 percent of the total abusers in 2006 to 23 percent in 2007.

This decline was described by the Bureau as a "well contained drug situation".

Singapore, Wednesday, Xinhua