Ex-police NSF took photo of confidential info that tipped off drug abuser, transmitted obscene videos

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Jan 7, 2019

A police full-time national serviceman (NSF) accessed a computer at the operations room of the Special Operations Command (SOC), took a photo of the screen and sent it to a colleague.

The image, which contained confidential information on police operations, was later forwarded to a drug abuser who messaged his friends, saying: "Stop everything tonite (sic) full ops."

Separately, Muhammad Alif Muhammad Jamil also ran a blog inviting netizens to submit obscene videos which he would then upload online.

Alif, 21, who has since completed his national service and is now a student, was sentenced to probation for a year and three months yesterday.

The former police special constable corporal pleaded guilty in October last year to an offence under the Official Secrets Act and five counts of transmitting obscene videos.

As part of his probation, he must perform 150 hours of community service and his mother was bonded for $5,000 to ensure his good behaviour.

The court heard that on April 17, 2016, a 26-year-old man forwarded an obscene video of his former girlfriend to Alif, asking him to make it go viral.

Alif uploaded it onto his blog and the 24-year-old woman confronted her former boyfriend when she found out about it three days later.

The older man told Alif to delete the video and he complied on April 21, 2016.

The woman also lodged a police report that day.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao said that during investigations, officers found that Alif had also transmitted four more obscene videos that other netizens had sent to him.

The court also heard that Alif was working as an operator at the SOC on Oct 4, 2016, when a colleague, Muhd Firdaus Abdullah, 21, sent him a text message, asking him to check on police operations.

Alif then snapped a picture of the computer display showing confidential information before forwarding it to Firdaus, who was then working as a sentry at the SOC.

DPP Lee said that Alif did as he was told even though he did not know why Firdaus wanted the information.

Firdaus, who has already been dealt with in court, forwarded the picture to his sister's boyfriend, who in turn sent it to the drug abuser.

Alif's offence came to light the next day when the Central Narcotics Bureau arrested a 32-year-old woman and one of its officers found the picture on her mobile phone.