Former medic who gave 'wanted' man tip-off about police movement jailed 2 weeks
A 27-year-old former medic who got to know that police were on their way to a pub told a friend who was on the run to flee as the latter was in the area.
On Friday (12 October), Muhammad Firdaus Amran was jailed for two weeks having pleaded guilty to one charge of communicating information in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
Another charge of obstructing the course of justice was considered in sentencing.
A district court heard that Firdaus previously served his national service in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) as a medic and was familiar with the Cubicon 2 computer system, which monitors calls to emergency numbers manned by the police and SCDF, among other things. The system also helps to coordinate the responses of resources dispatched to deal with emergencies.
The court heard that on 24 March, another man, Muhammad Fauzi Ramlan, learnt from his friend Madani Putera Abdull Rahim that their mutual female friend had been assaulted by her ex-boyfriend at Myra’s at 25 Circular Road.
At the time, Fauzi, 20, was serving his full-time national service in the SCDF and attached to the police’s Operations Command Centre, where he was tasked to facilitate information sharing between the SCDF and police.
Fauzi checked the Cubicon system and saw that a ‘999’ call to the police about the matter was made at about 11.50pm that day. He took a photo of the computer screen, cropped it and sent it via WhatApp to Madani, also 20 and serving his full-time national service with the armed forces.
Madani then forwarded the image to a WhatsApp group named Genggeng Kentot. Firdaus, who is Madani’s friend, was in the same WhatsApp group.
At about 12.10am on 25 March, Firdaus forwarded the photo via WhatApp to his friend Raihan Saliman Rabu, 19, who was wanted by the police. As Raihan was in the vicinity of the pub, Firdaus texted him, “An Chao” and “police otw gi sana”, warning him to run away as the police were on their way there.
Firdaus knew Raihan had cut off his electronic tag after his release from the Reformative Training Centre.
“At the material time, Raihan was placed on the police’s ‘wanted’ list. The accused had intended to alert Raihan to the police presence and to help him avoid detection by sending the image of the message and warning to Raihan,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Daphne Lim.
Firdaus later deleted the WhatsApp group and his conversation with Raihan from his mobile phone.
However, at about 12.55am the same day, policemen checked on Raihan as part of anti-crime operations at Boat Quay. They found the photo Fauzi had taken of the Cubicon system in Raihan’s phone and established that Firdaus had sent Raihan the photo.
Both Fauzi and Madani were administered with a warning for a charge under the Official Secrets Act.
For his crime under the Official Secrets Act, Firdaus could have been fined up to $2,000 and jailed for up to two years.
