SINGAPORE - A full-time national serviceman (NSF) with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) stole a subordinate’s mobile phone and later accessed the latter’s bank account.

According to court documents, Mohamed Iskandar Mohamed Ansari, 23, and his alleged accomplice, fellow SCDF NSF Nizar Syafiq Ismadi, 21, then emptied the victim’s bank account by transferring $690 to Iskandar’s account.

On Monday, Iskandar, who was a corporal at the time of his offences, was sentenced to three months and five weeks’ jail. He had pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act.

The case involving Nizar, then an SCDF lance corporal, is pending.

At the time of the offences, Iskandar, Nizar and the victim, Mr Leon Tay, 23, were NSFs serving at the 3rd SCDF Division in Yishun.

Mr Tay, who was a lance corporal, has since completed his national service.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin said that some time before August 2022, Iskandar and Nizar planned to “do something big to Leon”.

Nizar understood this to mean making Mr Tay’s life miserable by taking away his mobile phone. Court documents did not disclose the reasons behind the plan.

At around 7.30am on Aug 1, 2022, Iskandar and Mr Tay began their 24-hour duty shift at the regimental sergeant major’s office at the division.

Mr Tay was about to leave the office at around 9am to man the guardroom, where he was not supposed to use his mobile phone, when Iskandar told him to leave the device behind.

Mr Tay complied. After he left, Iskandar slipped the phone, worth $1,149, into his own pocket.

Mr Tay returned to the office about an hour later and noticed that the device was missing. When he asked Iskandar, the latter lied and claimed Mr Tay had collected it.

Later that day, Iskandar told Nizar what he had done, and they agreed to sell Mr Tay’s mobile phone at a second-hand store for $600. Nizar then retained its SIM card, said DPP Tung.

The phone was later exported out of Singapore, and Mr Tay could not afford to buy a new one.

On Aug 5, 2022, Iskandar offered to “help” Mr Tay by using the Find My Phone app installed on his own phone to trace the stolen device.

DPP Tung told the court: “The accused had the victim log into his Gmail account on the accused’s phone. However, the accused selected ‘show password’, revealing the victim’s login details. The accused sent the victim away.”

Meanwhile, Nizar downloaded a POSB banking app onto his own phone and inserted Mr Tay’s SIM card into the device.

The prosecutor said Iskandar and Nizar then successfully logged in to Mr Tay’s bank account before transferring $690 to Iskandar’s account via PayNow.

Iskandar later transferred $300 to Nizar and spent the remainder on alcohol.

Mr Tay found out about the transaction when he checked his e-mail and saw Iskandar’s mobile phone number in a message. He alerted the police after confronting Iskandar over the phone.

Iskandar later offered to compensate Mr Tay. But Mr Tay refused to accept it, as he felt that the offender had behaved in an unacceptable manner.

Iskandar’s bail was set at $10,000 on Monday, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 24 to begin serving his sentence.