The court sentenced a man to jail on Thursday (29 Aug) for planting cannabis in his wife’s car to frame her.
37-year-old Singaporean Tan Xianglong was charged with fabricating false evidence earlier in May.
The IT manager committed the offence despite knowing that his wife, who he was angry with, could face the death penalty.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Tan and his then-wife got married in 2021 and lived with the former’s parents.
However, his wife moved out in Oct 2022 after their relationship fizzled out
Despite the failing relationship, the couple were unable to get a divorce at the time due to the short duration of their marriage.
Tan subsequently consulted lawyers and came up with the idea that he could get a divorce if one of the parties had a criminal record.
Court documents showed that Tan felt resentful at the amount of debt and interest that had piled up during their wedding.
Feeling that his wife had not “contributed much”, Tan hired a private investigator in Sep 2023 to obtain evidence of her alleged adultery.
When the plan failed, Tan thought of planting illicit drugs in his wife’s car to get her in trouble with the law.
In Oct 2023, Tan shared his plans with his ex-girlfriend, describing it as a “perfect crime” that wouldn’t be traced back to him.
A few days after the conversation, Tan found a Telegram channel selling drugs.
Source: Worawee Meepian’s Images on Canva. For illustration purposes only.
He discovered that cannabis was the cheapest drug on offer and asked the seller for a “brick”, which cost S$2,600.
After collecting the cannabis from an HDB dry riser, Tan returned home and weighed the “brick”, which came to about 510g.
Tan knew his wife could face the death penalty for trafficking more than 500g of cannabis, and decided to proceed with his plan out of rage.
He then informed his ex-girlfriend that he was deleting everything off their phones to remove incriminating information, adding that he would go to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to report the matter.
In the early hours of 17 Oct 2023, Tan’s private investigator told him that his wife’s car was parked at a carpark in north-east Singapore.
Upon learning about this, Tan drove to the location and planted 11 packets of cannabis in the vehicle.
Source: razerbird on Canva. For illustration purposes only
As Tan was leaving the scene, his wife appeared.
She reportedly received a notification from her in-car camera informing her of a “parking impact” to her car. When she checked the live footage, she saw Tan walking around her vehicle.
Tan’s wife subsequently alerted the police.
After disposing of the “brick” wrapper at Buangkok Square Mall, Tan texted his ex-girlfriend and informed her that his wife had caught sight of him.
The police soon contacted Tan to ask about his harassment, but he lied and claimed he was there to change the battery for a GPS tracker he placed in her car.
After updating his ex-girlfriend on the situation, she advised him to retrieve the cannabis from the vehicle.
Tan drove back to the car park but made a swift U-turn after spotting policemen standing near the vehicle.
He contemplated another such attempt later in the day but was arrested at his own block.
Source: ronstik on Canva. For illustration purposes only
His wife was also arrested. However, the police found nothing incriminating after searching her room.
It was later revealed that despite weighing over 500g, the 11 packets of vegetable matter only contained about 216g of cannabis.
The prosecution sought four years and eight months’ jail for Tan, noting that he had a “nefarious purpose for possessing the drugs”.
Tan was sentenced to three years and 10 months’ jail for one count of possessing at least 216g of cannabis.
For possessing a Class A controlled drug, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$20,000, or both.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Katee Laine on Canva. Picture on the right is for illustration purposes only.
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