In this series, people from all walks of life offer an inside – often unfiltered – take on their livelihoods and what keeps them going in their jobs. In this instalment, hear from Tan Lee Lian on what it takes to carry out enforcement operations in Geylang, a peddling hot spot for illegal health products, as told to The Straits Times.
I am 48 and I have been working in the field enforcement and operations branch at the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), where I am an assistant director, since 2024.
I oversee a field enforcement team and am the only woman on the team.
My job is to detect the sale of illegal health products like cough syrups, sedatives, painkillers and sexual enhancement medicines, and nab the sellers.
We have increasingly had to tackle the sale of vapes and etomidate since late 2025. More recently, we also target the sale of illegal cigarettes.
When people with substance dependence cannot get their hands on their usual products, they may turn to some of these medicines, which give a “floating” sensation they crave.
We aim to stop the flow of such products on the black market. We seize them to prevent more people from getting harmed.
Most of these are prescription medicines bought on the black market.
Peddlers often make exaggerated claims about their products being miraculous cures for health issues. Dubious sellers may also sell counterfeit medicines that can contain the wrong ingredients, incorrect amounts of active ingredients, or no active ingredients at all.
The effects can be deadly.
Peddlers sell sexual enhancement medicines typically from makeshift stalls along the streets. Such drugs include sildenafil and tadalafil, which should only be prescribed by a doctor. Buyers also risk getting counterfeit medicines.
Peddlers may also sell illicit products via social media and messaging apps like Telegram.
We sometimes receive tip-offs from the public or information from other agencies. We verify the information and conduct background checks and surveillance before we detain suspects and seize their products.
Some medicine names are long and very hard to remember. We have to recognise different colours and packaging as the medicines come from different countries. Some packaging is labelled in a foreign language.
The sellers are also very creative as they are always introducing products we have never seen on the market. I still can’t keep up with the growing list, even after about two years on the job.
We rely on our experts to help us classify the products before a case goes to court.
On the ground
Our enforcement operations include gathering information and carrying out raids. These take place in Geylang and other locations that I cannot reveal.
We need to be physically fit as we have to be on the ground for hours. We can easily walk 20,000 steps a day during operations. Sometimes, we don’t have time to go to the toilet or have lunch, and may not get enough sleep.
Our surveillance work can take a few hours – in the day or at night – or a whole day. We try to blend in with the crowd. My team and I can’t be identified in this feature to preserve operational secrecy.
A simple case typically involves one seller at a single location. With a few days’ planning, we can take action and catch the seller within the same week.
But a more complex case involves several sellers operating at multiple locations on different days, as well as a warehouse somewhere. Surveillance to observe their activities and identify patterns may take a few months in such cases.
In 2025, we acted on tip-offs about under-the-table sales at a shopping mall and conducted a major raid there. We seized quite a lot of illegal products – mostly pills that cannot be found in Singapore.
Usually, by the time we decide to hit a target, we are more than 80% confident that we will seize products. But sometimes, things don’t go our way.
Once, we set a date to go to a location to catch a subject. We were very confident that he would turn up that day based on the information gathered, but he didn’t. Such things happen. It was back to doing more groundwork to select another day for the operation.
Many people think the job is dangerous because we deal with criminals, but we place a lot of emphasis on our officers’ safety.
If the subject becomes aggressive, we call the police, who are equipped to calm the person down. If the suspects run or dash across the road, we don’t need to endanger our lives by chasing after them.
If the seller gets away, we can still seize the products and take them off the market.
When we go out together, we watch one another’s backs. If we need to have physical contact with subjects, my team members normally go first and take the lead in securing them. This is for my safety as most of our subjects are men who could be physically stronger than me. After the subjects are secured, I take photos and record their statements.
Some of my team members are combat-trained and I am the only one from a civilian background – I was previously a prosecutor at another government agency – so I started taking up combat sports. I go to the gym daily and practise muay thai so that I don’t become a burden to my team.
These exercises have improved my reaction time and agility, helping me to safely subdue sellers and defend myself if needed.
Because of my legal training and previous experience with court cases, I can train my team at HSA on how to preserve and secure a scene for investigators to take over, such as how to bag and label an exhibit. We also brief the investigation officers at the scene on what we found and on what the sellers said.
In my previous job, I noticed that some operations could have been conducted better.
When the opportunity to join HSA’s enforcement branch arose, I took up the challenge.
Officers undergo training in basic investigation skills, such as questioning subjects and taking statements, as well as in understanding the relevant laws.
Enforcement skills are quite transferable. Officers who are skilled enough can rise through the ranks and join other agencies. We can move into other roles besides field operations. If we undergo training in intelligence and forensic analysis, we have opportunities for lateral career progression.
We can shut down a social media channel selling these products, but a new one will pop up. Sometimes, we see sellers who were caught back at it another day at the same or a different location.
So it can be a recurring thing. For example, we can take down something from social media, but a new one will surface over the next few days.
It’s a never-ending effort. But it’s encouraging when a channel is shut down because it means there’s one less avenue for selling illicit products.
All visuals in this feature are re-enactments by HSA officers.
Got an interesting job to share? Write in to us at ssharon@sph.com.sg. Catch up on the rest of our On The Job series here.
- Industry: Regulatory enforcement
- Prerequisites:
- Relevant experience in law enforcement, investigations, intelligence analysis, regulatory compliance, enforcement operations or related fields.
- A range of educational qualifications is accepted.
- Must be willing to be involved in possible field deployments and call-backs outside regular working hours. “I look for people who have a background in enforcement or policing, and those who are street-smart. That would be an advantage because they would be quite used to the irregular hours,” says operations lead Tan Lee Lian.
- Hidden reality: “We work in back lanes and corners. Sometimes, we have to check through rubbish bins behind restaurants. There would be cockroaches and rats. I have to stay calm, especially if I’m leading the operation. Luckily, I am not afraid of these vermin,” says Tan.