Singapore – A 37-year-old public servant has been arrested for allegedly disclosing a police lookout message identifying the suspect in the Tampines stabbing incident.
A 42-year-old woman named Iris Ting Su was discovered at a Tampines void deck covered in blood with stab wounds on her neck last Wednesday (Feb 10). She died the same day after being taken while unconscious to the hospital.
Hours later, Ms Ting’s husband, 45-year-old Ng Chee Kok, was found at the foot of a block in Punggol. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Mr Ng is believed to be Ms Ting’s assailant, straitstimes.com reported, quoting the police.
On Monday (Feb 15), the police announced that a man working for another government agency had allegedly leaked a lookout message sent by the police to various law enforcement agencies last Wednesday at around 7:30 am. The message was sent after establishing the identity of the suspect in the stabbing incident.
The message included the suspect’s name, picture, date of birth, nationality, and the police report number. It also contained an image taken from a security camera depicting a person believed to be the suspect, reported straitstimes.com.
The public servant is said to have taken a photo of the lookout message and shared it with a friend, a 60-year-old man, through WhatsApp. The man was not authorised to receive the classified information, said the police.
The friend then sent the message to other unauthorised recipients.
The public servant is suspected of wrongful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Police investigations are ongoing.
“The Government takes a serious view of any wrongful communication of confidential information and will deal firmly with anyone who does so,” said the police.
If found guilty, the public servant can be fined up to $2,000 and jailed for up to two years, under the OSA.
Any unauthorised person who circulates the confidential information may be similarly liable under the OSA./TISG
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