SINGAPORE - The prosecution has urged the court to sentence a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officer and his former colleague to two years’ jail each for conspiring to tamper with the urine sample of a drug abuser deemed to be a difficult subject.
Following a trial, CNB officer Abdul Rahman Kadir and Muhammad Zuhairi Zainuri were each convicted in September of one count of engaging in a conspiracy to intentionally obstruct the course of justice. Zuhairi, 34, had resigned from CNB in February while Abdul Rahman, 46, is serving a suspension.
A third officer linked to the case, Mohamed Hafiz Lan, then 41, was sentenced to 18 months’ jail in August 2020 after he pleaded guilty to a similar charge.
On Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran told Principal District Judge Victor Yeo that Abdul Rahman was the most senior member of his team on the day of the offence.
The DPP added that Abdul Rahman was not a passive bystander, noting that by not stopping the offence, he had breached his core responsibility as a CNB officer.
Abdul Rahman’s lawyer, Mr Peter Fernando, pleaded for his client to be given not more than a year’s jail. He said the officer, whose conduct at CNB had been exemplary before the offence, did not hatch the plan to tamper with the urine sample.
As for Zuhairi, DPP Thiagesh said the younger offender played an active role in tampering with the urine, and had shown a lack of remorse. During the trial, Zuhairi claimed he was targeted for prosecution because of his race, an allegation that DPP Thiagesh said was baseless.
Zuhairi’s lawyer Anil Balchandani said his client has apologised for his conduct in court. On Wednesday, he asked for Zuhairi to be sentenced to a month’s jail.
The two offenders are expected to be sentenced next Thursday.
Their troubles started when narcotics abuser Maung Moe Min Oo and a Thai woman were detained at Woodlands Checkpoint at around 11pm on Aug 15, 2018, over suspected drug consumption.
Maung, a 32-year-old Singaporean, knew that he would fail his drug test as he had earlier consumed methamphetamine, otherwise known as Ice. Court documents stated that while they were in an interview room, Maung asked Abdul Rahman to help him clear the instant urine test (IUT).
In their submissions, DPPs Thiagesh and Alan Loh said: “Meanwhile, Zuhairi left the interview room to speak to Hafiz at 12.17am, and they agreed that they would tamper with Maung’s urine sample by swopping it with another sample that would produce a negative IUT result to expedite his departure from the CNB office.”
Hafiz urinated into a bottle and left it in a toilet so that Maung’s urine sample could be substituted with his. Hafiz and Abdul Rahman then escorted Maung to the toilet, where Hafiz told the drug abuser to urinate into another bottle before getting rid of its contents.
Hafiz’s urine sample was then used in Maung‘s drug test.
Maung and the Thai woman later passed the urine tests, and officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority escorted the pair out of the CNB office at around 1.20am. The pair then left for Malaysia. The offence came to light when a different CNB team detained Maung at Woodlands Checkpoint on Aug 17, 2018.
The prosecutors said: “The conspiracy was subsequently unravelled when Maung explained that Abdul Rahman had helped him pass his previous IUT which was administered (the day before).”
Maung’s urine was later found to contain traces of methamphetamine, and he was detained at a drug rehabilitation centre.
