SINGAPORE: A Certis Cisco auxiliary police officer who was supposed to confiscate and turn in illegal sex enhancement drugs took them for his own use instead.
Singaporean Mohd Aris Jalil, 66, was jailed for six weeks on Tuesday (May 7) after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.
The court heard that Aris was deployed to one of the foreign workers management teams tasked to conduct regular patrols and enforce law and order around Geylang. He was then employed by Certis Cisco and deployed to the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
He had been deployed to the foreign workers management team since June 2021 as the team leader.
As part of his duties, Aris enforced law and order regulations against the sale of illegal sex enhancement drugs, and was supposed to detain offenders and seize illicit items from them. If the offender cannot be detained, the auxiliary police officers and security officers must seize the contraband and take it to designated police stations, where the items would be handed over to the SPF.
Seized items will then be handed over to the SPF.
Sometime after his deployment to the team and before Sep 13, 2022, Aris misappropriated sex enhancement drugs from peddlers. The drugs had been entrusted to him as an auxiliary police officer.
The confiscated drugs were stored in a vehicle meant to transport the team and the contraband, but Aris kept a portion of them for his own consumption instead of handing them over as protocol dictated.
The Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) received information relating to offences committed by members of Aris’ team on Aug 29, 2022. These involved two men, Malaysian Thiru Murugan Shanmugam, an auxiliary police officer, and Singaporean Mohammad Hafizudin Hanapiah, a security officer.
Hafizudin had accepted bribes from a sex enhancement drug peddler at Geylang in exchange for not taking enforcement action and has since been jailed three months and two weeks. Thiru’s case is still pending before the courts.
While investigating the offences, CPIB conducted a search and found the drugs in Aris’ possession on Sep 13, 2022.
In total, he had misappropriated sex enhancement drugs worth S$188 for his own use. The contraband was taken into custody by the CPIB.
The prosecution argued for Aris to be jailed between eight and 10 weeks. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kiera Yu said the accused had abused his position and breached the trust placed in him as an officer under the employ of SPF. He had also committed the offence with some level of premeditation, Ms Yu added.
Aris’ lawyer Wee Hong Shern told the court that his client had succumbed to temptation in a “moment of folly and lapse of judgment” to address “intimate issues” with his wife.
“He had committed the offence not for financial gratification, but to treat a perceived ailment as he wanted his wife to be happier,” said Mr Wee, who added that the offence was “one-off”.
Aris had worked as an auxiliary police officer for 33 years, according to Mr Wee.
The lawyer sought three to four weeks’ jail for his client.
For criminal breach of trust, Aris could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
