ALLEGED DRUG DEALER SHOT OUTSIDE SHANGRILA HOTEL IN SINGAPORE

Two Singaporeans arrested after a deadly encounter with police outside a hotel where Pentagon chief Ashton Carter was staying were alleged heroin traffickers, officials said Monday.

The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue attended by the US defense secretary and counterparts from around the world was briefly placed under lockdown Sunday after police opened fire at a car carrying three local men as they tried to crash through a barricade outside.

The driver was killed on the spot. The conference, named after the luxury hotel that hosts the heavily guarded annual gathering, resumed without incident after police ascertained there was no terrorist threat.

On Monday the two passengers, Mohamed Ismail, 31, and Mohammad Syahid Mohamed Yasin, 26, were charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The dead driver was identified as 34-year-old Mohamed Taufik Zahar.

In a statement on Facebook, police said Taufik was “wanted for failing to attend court for an offence of criminal intimidation and has drug-related antecedents as well as other criminal records”.

Source: AFP