An unemployed man who was nabbed together with two others for dealing in 4,600 cartons of contraband cigarettes fell five storeys to his death near Aljunied.

A coroner's court heard today (sept14) that Chia Sher Chong, 46, was being handcuffed and interviewed in a fifth-floor unit at Soon Wing Building in Soon Wing Road on April 14 when the incident took place.

Customs officers had earlier arrested him, Lee Tze Yen, 25, and Goh Joo Meng, 37, at an ambush in the building.

That afternoon, Chia was seen driving a lorry into the carpark of the building. He then went to the fifth floor and came out with Lee. Both men were using a pallet jet to transport carton boxes of contraband cigarettes into the lorry. Goh was loitering at the side gate.

Officers moved in and arrested the trio, and seized 2,300 cartons of duty-unpaid Marlboro cigarettes with a street value of $115,000.

The men were led to the fifth floor unit where another 2,300 of cigarettes were found after a search.

Chia, who was separated from the other two suspects, complained to an officer of feeling warm and asked to move nearer to the window which was opened.

Not long later, one of the officers in the ambush team saw his body hanging over the window ledge with his feet off the ground.

Higher custom officer Chong Leong Sing, 30, grabbed his leg, assisted by his colleague. But due to Chia's weight, they were unable to hold onto him and he plunged to his death.

State Coroner Ronald Gwee returned an open verdict as he could not come to a firm conclusion on whether Chia had wanted to escape or intended to take his own life.