2 NSmen stole corporal’s phone and emptied his bank account

SINGAPORE: A corporal and a lance corporal with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were found to have taken and sold the cell phone of a fellow full-time national serviceman. Moreover, they stole S$690 from him through an online transfer and emptying his bank account.

Nizar Syafiq Ismadi, 21, and Mohamed Iskandar Mohamed Ansari, 24, were discovered to have taken the mobile phone of Corporal Leon Tay, 23, around August last year while all three were serving at the 3rd SCDF Division in Yishun as security administration staff.

In February, Iskandar pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act and was given a three-month and five-week jail sentence.

On Sept 19 (Tuesday), Nizar pleaded guilty to several charges, which include weapon possession and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act. He is likely to receive his sentence by the end of October.

The two conspired against their colleague, Mr Tay, planning “do something big” to him, although the reason behind their plotting has not been disclosed.

“Nizar understood this as making Leon’s life miserable by taking his phone,” The Straits Times quotes Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin as saying.

On Aug 1, 2022, Iskandar and Mr Tay carried out a 24-hour duty shift at the regimental sergeant major’s office.

As Mr Tay was heading to the guardroom, he still had his mobile phone. Iskandar told him to leave it in the office because he was not supposed to be using it.

Iskandar then took the phone worth S$1,149, later selling it for S$600 to a second-hand store. However, they removed the SIM card, which DPP Tung told the court Nizar kept.

Four days later, Iskandar pretended to assist Mr Tay with finding his phone.

He “had the victim log in to 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,” DPP Tung had said.

As for Nizar, he placed Mr Tay’s SIM card into his own phone after he downloaded a POSB banking app.

The two were then able to access the bank account of Mr Tay and went on, via PayNow, to transfer $690 to Iskandar’s account.

However, after an email showing the mobile number of Iskandar alerted Mr Tay to the transaction, he filed a police report, and Iskandar and Nizar were arrested at the 3rd SCDF Division on Aug 15, 2022. /TISG

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