SINGAPORE - A Malaysian motorcyclist has been arrested after he was found with about 900g of heroin in his underwear at Tuas Checkpoint.

The 23-year-old man had been stopped in the arrival motorcycle zone by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at 6.10am on Wednesday (Dec 21).

While inspecting him, ICA officers suspected he had hidden drugs in his underwear, and alerted Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers.

The CNB officers then searched the man and found the heroin, estimated to be worth over $63,000. He was placed under arrest.

"The Misuse of Drugs Act provides for the death penalty if the amount of diamorphine (or pure heroin) trafficked exceeds 15g," ICA and CNB said in a press release on Thursday (Dec 22).

That is equivalent to 1,250 straws, enough to sustain about 180 abusers for a week.

"Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security, and security checks are critical to our nation's security. The Home Team agencies will continue to conduct checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands," the press release added.