Even as he was serving his national service with the Singapore Police Force, Muhd Firdaus Abdullah was himself on the wrong side of the law - trafficking drugs and harbouring an alleged murderer.
A special constable in the Special Operations Command (SOC), he was also a secret society member.
Yesterday, Firdaus, 20, was jailed for six years and two months, and will receive five strokes of the cane.
He had pleaded guilty last month to one count each of harbouring an alleged murderer, failing to report for his NS duties and possessing, consuming and trafficking drugs.
The court heard that on March 12 last year, four other members from the secret society to which he belonged were involved in an attack on two men near St James Power Station. They are part-time mover Muhammad Khalid Kamarudin, 22; Muhammad Faizal Md Jamal, 23, who was then serving NS with the Singapore Civil Defence Force; former restaurant assistant manager Muhammad Hisham Hassan, 28 and waiter Shawalludin Sa'adon, 27, who worked at Postbar in St James Power Station.
The duo who were attacked were Mr Satheesh Kumar Manogaran, 35, who was stabbed to death, and his cousin, Mr Naveen Lal Pillar, 29, who suffered a stab wound.
Mr Satheesh was having drinks at Postbar before the attack.
The Straits Times had earlier reported he was then involved in an incident involving Shawalludin, who claimed Mr Satheesh had tried to punch him.
Feeling aggrieved, Shawalludin contacted Hisham and asked him to rally members of their gang to act as "back-ups" in a fight.
Hisham headed to Postbar and messaged the other members of his secret society to join him. Khalid asked Faizal to accompany him. According to court documents, Khalid and Faizal confronted Mr Satheesh and Mr Naveen, and stabbed, kicked and punched the pair.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ho said that after the attack, Khalid and Faizal fled the scene. Khalid contacted Firdaus telling him he had stabbed somebody and needed shelter. Instead of informing the police, Firdaus told Khalid and Faizal to seek refuge at his brother's flat in Aljunied.
DPP Ho said: "The accused knew that Khalid and Faizal would be arrested but provided such shelter with the intent to screen Khalid from legal punishment. The accused did so despite the knowledge that Khalid had committed murder, an offence punishable with death."
At around 10am, Firdaus phoned Hisham, who told him to go to his godmother's flat in Yishun along with Khalid and Faizal. The trio did so. Firdaus, Khalid and Hisham were arrested there at around 8pm the next day.
After he was released on bail, Firdaus, who was deployed as an operator in the SOC's operations room, failed to turn up for duties without a valid reason on March 29 last year.
He continued to remain absent until Aug 16 last year, when he was arrested for drug trafficking.
In January, Hisham was jailed for 18 months for harbouring Khalid. The cases involving Khalid, Faizal and Shawalludin are still pending.
