Mohamed Iskandar Mohamed Ansari was sentenced to three months and five weeks’ jail. — KELVIN CHNG/The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE: A full-time national serviceman (NSF) with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was at his workplace when he stole his subordinate’s mobile phone and accessed the latter’s bank account.
According to court documents, Mohamed Iskandar Mohamed Ansari, 23, and his alleged accomplice, fellow SCDF NSF Nizar Syafiq Ismadi, 21, then emptied the victim’s bank account by transferring S$690 (RM2,293) to Iskandar’s account.
On Monday, Iskandar, who was a corporal at the time of his offences, was sentenced to three months and five weeks’ jail.
He had pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act. The case involving Nizar, then an SCDF lance corporal, is pending.
At the time of the offences, Iskandar, Nizar and the victim, Leon Tay, 23, were NSFs serving at the 3rd SCDF Division in Yishun.
Tay, who was a lance corporal, has since completed his national service.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin said that some time before August 2022, Iskandar and Nizar planned to “do something big to Leon”.
Nizar understood this to mean making Tay’s life miserable by taking his mobile phone away. Court documents did not disclose the reasons behind the plan.
At around 7.30am on Aug 1, 2022, Iskandar and Tay began their 24-hour duty shift at the regimental sergeant major’s office of their workplace.
Tay was about to leave the office at around 9am to man the guard room, where he was not supposed to use his mobile phone, when Iskandar told him to leave the device behind.
Tay complied and when he left, Iskandar slipped the phone worth S$1,149 (RM3,819) into his own pocket.
Tay returned to the office about an hour later and saw that the device was missing. When asked, Iskandar lied, claiming that Tay had collected it.
Later that day, Iskandar told Nizar about what he had done, and the pair agreed to sell Tay’s mobile phone at a second hand store for S$600 (RM1,994). Nizar then retained its SIM card, said the DPP.
The phone was later exported out of Singapore and Tay could not afford to buy a new one.
On Aug 5, 2022, Iskandar offered to “help” Tay by using the Find My Phone app installed on his own phone to trace the stolen device.
DPP Tung told the court: “The accused had the victim log into his Gmail account on the accused’s phone. However, the accused selected ‘show password’, revealing the victim’s login details. The accused sent the victim away.”
Meanwhile, Nizar downloaded a POSB banking app onto his own phone and installed Tay’s SIM card into the device.
The prosecutor added that Iskandar and Nizar then successfully logged into Tay’s bank account before transferring S$690 (RM2,293) into one belonging to Iskandar by using PayNow.
Iskandar later transferred S$300 (RM997) to Nizar, and spent the remainder on alcohol.
Tay found out about the transaction when he checked his email and saw Iskandar’s mobile phone number in the message.
Tay alerted the police after he confronted Iskandar over the phone.
Iskandar later offered to compensate Tay, who refused to accept it, as he felt that the offender had behaved in an unacceptable manner.
Iskandar’s bail was set at S$10,000 (RM33,240) on Feb 27, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 24 to begin serving his sentence. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
