Man who was once a cop jailed for drug abuse, housebreaking, mischief and harassing public servant

SINGAPORE - A former policeman was sentenced to 23 months' jail for various drug offences as well as for housebreaking, mischief and harassment.

Tan Yan Chong, 35, was arrested after he carried out a series of bizarre acts in April last year. .

He first called 999 at about 3am on April 5 to report that his neighbour's girlfriend had installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in his apartment unit and that they had admitted to it.

Less than 15 minutes later, Tan called 999 again and told the police not to come to his home, as he would like to talk it out with his neighbour first, the court heard.

At 6am, Tan, who was jobless at the time, climbed onto their balcony and tried to pry open the glass doors.

The court heard he did this by scaling a low wall that separates his unit from the neighbour's.

Court documents did not provide details of the apartment and the unit's location.

The neighbours, Mr Wong Soon Yuh and his girlfriend, were awoken by the noise and opened the glass doors to ask Tan what he was doing.

Tan then claimed that Mr Wong's girlfriend had installed CCTV cameras in his home and was monitoring him, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang.

Tan's actions were evidently done with the intent to annoy Mr Wong, added DPP Huang.

He eventually returned to his unit and was arrested at 10am.

After his arrest, Tan told the police about possible drug exhibits in his unit.

He was escorted back to the unit by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau at mid-afternoon on the same day.

A search of the unit, as well as at the address Tan had listed on his NRIC, uncovered multiple packets of crystalline substances, tablets and powdery substances.

The exhibits were later determined by the Health Sciences Authority to contain at least 6.75g of methamphetamine, also known as Ice. The other chemicals were found to be at least 4.55g of Ecstasy, and at least 0.48g of ketamine.

During questioning, Tan admitted to owning them and said the drugs, which he had purchased over five times from a dealer named Apple, were meant for his own consumption.

But he would also sell the drugs if people wanted to purchase them from him, said DPP Huang.

Tan's urine samples tested positive for methamphetamine, and he admitted to consuming the drug using an improvised drug implement three days before his arrest.

But his troubles did not end there.

While being escorted by a prison officer at Changi Prison on April 19, he complained that the clothes he had on were transparent.

When the prison officer explained to Tan that they were standard-issue items, Tan shouted vulgarities at the officer.

In response, the officer told Tan to be careful about the words he was using, but Tan repeated the vulgarities at a lower volume.

About a week later, while out on bail, Tan was back to his antics after returning to the apartment.

Another neighbour, Ms Yong Wei Wei, saw Tan lighting a roll of paper and brushing it against Mr Wong's main door at about 6pm on April 28.

She also saw Tan spray what she believed to be aerosol on the front door, said DPP Huang.

When Mr Wong returned home that day, police officers, who had stayed behind to await his return, discovered soil mixed with glass shards behind the front door.

Tan was arrested for attempting to set fire to Mr Wong's front door. In court, he also pleaded guilty to one count of using abusive words on a public servant.

In a statement on Thursday, police said Tan had resigned from the Singapore Police Force in 2008 while holding the rank of Corporal.