Two Singaporeans also face the death penalty after the raids, conducted on Thursday, exposed an exclusive group of locals and expatriates using cocaine, ecstasy, "ice", cannabis and ketamine, Central Narcotics Bureau spokeswoman Dawn Sim said.

Police allege Tunisian Guiga Lyes Ben Laroussi, 35, marketing manager of Bobby Rubino's restaurant, was a leader of the syndicate and have charged him with drug trafficking, which carries the death penalty.

Laroussi and the two Singaporeans also charged with trafficking are in police custody, while five others charged with possession were released on bail on Friday, Sim said.

The two Singaporeans charged with trafficking are Laroussi's unemployed girlfriend, Mariana Abdullah, 24, and Marx Oh, 31, a director of events management company Zero Events Concepts, according to Sim.

Among the five charged with possession are Briton Nigel Bruce Simmonds, 35, editor of high-society magazine Singapore Tatler, Frenchman Francois Fabien Mermilliod, 29, chef at Flutes at the Fort restaurant and Sri Lankan Jeremy Mahen Chanmugam, 40, another director of Zero Event Concepts.

"Ice", cocaine and cannabis were found on the three respectively, and each face maximum penalties of a S$20,000 (US$11,764) fine, 10 years' imprisonment, or both, Sim said.

The other 15 people arrested, 14 Singaporeans and one unnamed foreigner, were also released on Friday. They had to give urine samples that will be analysed for traces of drugs and may face possession or consumption charges, Sim said.

Narcotics operatives seized 63 grams of cocaine (2.2 ounces), 5.1 grams of "ice", 29.1 grams of cannabis and 52 "ecstasy" tablets in Thursday's island-wide raids, a statement released Friday by the narcotics bureau said.

The busts made front page news in Singapore, which has one of the lowest crime rates in Asia and where the government takes an especially hard line on drugs.

An Amnesty International report this year said Singapore had the highest execution rate in the world per capita, with more than 400 convicts hanged since 1991 in a nation of just over four million people.

Most of the executions in Singapore are for drug offences, and many foreigners have been hanged.

"We will take firm and swift measures to prevent cocaine and any other drugs from gaining a foothold in Singapore, and we will pursue every lead to stamp out the spread of controlled drugs," the narcotics bureau's statement said.

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