1 - He buys take Viagra in JB and takes one a few days later
2 - Does not realise it contains Ice and is arrested at Customs
3 - Wife is shocked when he calls her and says...
SHE found out that her husband had been taking Viagra only when he called her from jail.
Mr Lee Voot Seong, 51, had erectile dysfunction since 2003 but had kept it from his wife.
Mr Lee was also in financial difficulties and could no longer afford to buy Viagra.
So when he found a box of 'Indian Viagra' pills sold by street peddlers in Johor Baru in April, he grabbed it.
They cost him RM$20 ($8.50) for four.
Said Mr Lee: 'I saw it and I thought 'Wah, so cheap'. I didn't think about the side effects or if it's real. I just wanted to save some money.'
Unfortunately for him, not only were they fake, they contained the methamphetamine Ice, a controlled drug here.
A few days later, he took a pill before heading to Johor to make some deliveries. He was arrested at the Causeway on his return trip.
His wife, Madam Hazeline Lau, 50, described how she felt when the call came from Jurong Police Station, asking her to post bail for him that night.
'I didn't know how to react at first. I was angry because he kept the truth from me. I asked him 'Why did you want to take that medicine?'
'But on the other hand, it was more important that I bail him out first,' Madam Lau said in Mandarin.
Luckily for Mr Lee, his ordeal ended yesterday when he was acquitted of consuming the drug.
Their children, an 18-year-old and 16-year-old twins, had been kept in the dark about the whole affair.
Said Madam Lau: 'We didn't want anyone to know, especially the children. We didn't want them to worry.'
GUY'S PROBLEM
Mr Lee said he kept his medical condition from his wife because 'it was a guy's problem' and he didn't want her to worry.
The couple currently run a small home spa business.
Mr Lee said the family is in dire financial difficulties. He and his wife are both bankrupt.
He applied to the Law Society and was granted free legal aid to defend him against the charge.
But life was not always like this, said Mr Lee, a Malaysian who has been living here for more than 30 years and is a Singapore Permanent Resident.
He and his wife owned a profitable construction company for more than 20 years. It closed down two years ago due to financial problems.
The family used to live the high life when the company was at its peak in the late 1990s.
The company had more than 200 employees, some of whom were paid six-month bonuses and lavished with gifts of Rolex watches and company cars.
Back then, the family owned a number of properties, including two condo apartments, a semi-detached house, a three-storey terrace house and an HDB flat.
The children were chauffeured in new Mercedes and Jaguar cars.
Said Mr Lee in Mandarin: 'We were living like millionaires. My biggest indulgence was cars. I like Mercedes cars and used to change cars every four to five years.'
Back then, their combined monthly income was over $20,000.
BANKRUPT
Then the company suffered a severe downturn and the couple were declared bankrupt.
Their houses and cars were seized by the bank and the family downgraded to a four-room HDB flat in Woodlands, in which they still live.
To make matters worse, one of his twin sons needed a bone marrow transplant last year.
The medical bills came to about $100,000 and the family still owes
KK Hospital about $40,000 for the transplant.
The family's spa business brings in a few thousand dollars a month now, depending on, and they get by.
But Mr Lee has learnt one lesson - never buy medicine from the streets.
He said: 'I think I've gone through enough. I wouldn't buy from the street peddlers even if you point a gun at me. I think I'll steer clear of Viagra from now.'