SINGAPORE – A prison officer will go from managing inmates to becoming one, after he was jailed for helping an inmate smuggle prohibited items such as medication and lewd pictures into Changi Prison Complex.
On Oct 9, Mohammad Asri Abd Rahim, 39, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail. The inmate he helped, Mohamad Yusof Kasim, 50, was also jailed for 10 months.
pleaded guilty on Sept 5 to multiple charges involving acts of corruption
, which took place over almost a year, from August 2021 to June 2022.
Asri, who has since been suspended from duty, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $3,700 – the amount of bribes he received from Yusof through the latter’s friends and acquaintances.
One of those friends was Murali Vigneshwaran, 36, who met Yusof while they were incarcerated and helped to give Asri bribes after he was released from jail in December 2021.
On Oct 9, Murali was sentenced to four months’ jail, after he pleaded guilty on Sept 5 to a corruption-linked charge.
“Instead of learning to reform and rehabilitate themselves, they have gone on to re-offend and even corrupted (Asri),” District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam said of Yusof and Murali, who attended court via video-link.
“The accused persons have caused damage and harm to the trust in and the integrity of a public institution, namely the Singapore Prison Service (SPS).”
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andrew Chia told the court previously that Asri joined SPS in April 2012.
Yusof, also known as “Kimo”, was a correctional unit attendant (CUA) who had helped Asri. Such an attendant is an inmate tasked to help out with housekeeping matters and is paid an allowance, which he can use to buy items such as snacks within Changi Prison.
DPP Chia said that from early 2021 to August that year, Asri started bringing in gabapentin pills – a type of painkiller that can be abused – for his CUAs to reward them for helping him manage the inmates.
He would pass the pills to Yusof to distribute to the other CUAs, but did not receive any money in return.
The DPP added: “In August 2021, Kimo reached out to Asri. Kimo suggested to Asri that if Asri was willing to smuggle contraband items into Changi Prison for the inmates, he was willing to pay Asri for his services.
“Initially, Asri did not give Kimo an answer because he knew that what Kimo was suggesting was illegal. However, Asri eventually decided to agree with Kimo’s proposal.”
Asri later entered into an arrangement with Yusof in which he would help the latter smuggle items such as lewd photographs and medication through prison security in exchange for monetary rewards.
Through the e-letters that he sent to people outside the prison, Yusof instructed his friends and acquaintances, including Murali, to pass the contraband items to Asri.
To avoid detection, he used code words so that his friends and acquaintances knew what they needed to pass to Asri.
For instance, “ayam” (chicken in Malay) referred to Asri, “postcards” referred to lewd photographs, “paper” referred to money, and “visit goods” referred to gabapentin pills.
The smuggling of pills, in particular, required careful planning.
Asri removed the pills from their original packaging as it contained aluminium, which can be detected by metal detectors, and kept the pills in small bags. He would then hide the bags containing the pills in his socks or underwear to smuggle them into Changi Prison.
The prosecutor told the court that Yusof decided the amount Asri would receive as reward, adding: “Typically, these friends and acquaintances would hand Asri cash alongside the contraband items.”
There were also occasions when they made bank transfers to Asri’s bank account.
Around mid- to end-June 2022, Asri told Yusof that he wanted to stop the arrangement. But before they could do so, SPS officers conducted a raid on Yusof’s cell on suspicion that he had contraband items.
An SPS spokeswoman said on Oct 9 that upon being alerted of Asri’s offence, SPS referred the case to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and rendered full assistance to CPIB in its investigation.
Noting that Asri has been suspended on half pay since Feb 8, 2023, the spokeswoman said: “Following his conviction, he will face public service disciplinary action and will be liable for punishments which may include dismissal from service.
“Any SPS officer found to have (broken the law) will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law, including being charged in court.”
For each charge of corruption, Asri could have been fined up to $100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.
