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Drug Victims Remembrance Day
Inside the Mind of a Drug Trafficker

Weighing the Deals : Richard

27 July 2026

I joined a drug syndicate importing drugs into Singapore. I did it for the money.

I had been in and out of jail from the age of 16. By 33, I had been arrested for the seventh time. 

But deep inside my heart, I knew what I did was something very, very wrong. All this while, I thought I was somebody, bringing home the money through drugs.

Photo of Richard and his son

What broke through was my sister: she visited me across the border in Malaysia, cared for my wife, and wrote me letters through the years I was locked away. One stopped me cold: “My dear brother, do you know why we did not give up on you? It is because I have the great love of God.” 

I could not understand it. I knew that if our roles were reversed, I would have walked away long ago. 

The birth of my son only deepened my resolve to become someone worth that love. 

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