Two suspected drug offenders arrested for firearms offences

Two male suspected drug offenders, aged 24 and 25, were arrested for being in possession of a firearm and consorting with a person carrying arms respectively in a joint operation mounted by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on 8 and 9 October 2019. In a press release on Wednesday (9 October), the bureau stated that the Police received information from CNB, indicating that a 24-year-old male subject was in possession of a firearm on 7 October 2019. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and CNB, with the support of Special Operations Command (SOC) and Police Intelligence Department (PID), then immediately mounted a joint operation and conducted extensive intelligence probes. On 8 October 2019, the Police and CNB moved in to arrest the subject at the void deck of his residential block, in the vicinity of Jurong West Street 72.  The male subject was escorted up to his residential unit where a search was conducted. According to the authorities, the firearm was recovered in his unit. However, no drugs were found. Further investigations revealed that a second man was suspected to have previously knowingly remained in the company of the first man despite being aware that he was in unlawful possession of a firearm. The bureau said that this second man was later arrested along Woodlands Street 13, on 9 October 2019, at about 2.25 am.

According to the bureau, the first man will be charged on 10 October 2019 with one count of Unlawful Possession of Arms under Sec 3(1) of the Arms Offences Act, Cap 14. The second man will be charged on 10 October 2019 with one count of Consorting with Person Carrying Arms under Sec 7 of the Arms Offences Act, Cap 14. The authorities stressed that any person who is found to be in unlawful possession of any arm or ammunition shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than 10 years and shall also be punished with caning with not less than six strokes. Any person who consorts with, or is found in the company of, another person who is unlawfully carrying or is in unlawful possession of any arm in circumstances which raise a reasonable presumption that he knew that that other person was carrying or had in his possession or under his control any such arm shall, unless he proves that he had reasonable grounds for believing that that other person was not unlawfully carrying or was not in unlawful possession of such arm, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to the like punishment as that other person with whom he was consorting or in whose company he was found.