Man planned ‘perfect crime’ by planting cannabis in estranged wife’s car, knew it could draw death penalty

SINGAPORE: Feeling angry at his estranged wife and wanting to get her in trouble with the law, a man planted 11 packets of cannabis weighing over 500g in her car, despite knowing it could draw the death penalty.
He revealed his plan to his ex-girlfriend, saying he had been planning the “perfect crime” for the “past few days” and that he thought it would not “link back” to him.
Tan Xianglong, a 37-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to three years and 10 months’ jail on Thursday (Aug 29) for one count of possessing at least 216g of cannabis – the amount of pure drugs eventually found in the 11 packets.
Cannabis is a Class A controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
A second charge of fabricating false evidence was taken in consideration.
The court heard that Tan was an IT manager living with his parents.
He got married to his then-wife in 2021, but their relationship deteriorated.
In October 2022, his wife moved out of his parents’ home, where they had been staying together.
They were unable to get a divorce at the time because of how short the marriage was.
Tan consulted lawyers and came away with the idea that they could get a divorce if one of them had a criminal record.
At the time of the drug-planting offence, the couple was undergoing separation proceedings.
Tan was aggrieved at the amount of debt and interest that had accrued over the course of his marriage, court documents stated.
He felt that his wife had not “contributed much” and got angry with her. In September 2023, he hired a private investigator to get evidence of her alleged adultery.
When this failed, he began entertaining thoughts of planting illicit drugs in her car, so as to scare her and get her in trouble with the law.
He understood that she would be wrongly arrested and charged if his plan succeeded.
On Oct 14, 2023, he told his ex-girlfriend in a Telegram chat that he had been planning the “perfect crime” for the past few days and thought it would not be linked to him.
He told her that his plan involved him going to the police station. Tan added he would call the police and might have to give a statement.
He also said he was “not sure” if his then-wife would be in the news.
He added he was scared that he did not have enough money for his plan, and that he had spent “quite a bit on this”.
On Oct 16, 2023, Tan found a channel on Telegram that was selling drugs and obtained a menu of the prices.
He saw that cannabis was the cheapest drug per gram, and the maximum weight was 100g. He felt that this was too little, and asked the seller for a “brick” of cannabis, which he intended to use to get his then-wife in trouble.
While he knew it would weigh more than the other options, he thought it would be compressed and easier to handle.
The brick of cannabis cost S$2,600 (US$1,997). As Tan did not have enough money, he got a friend to help transfer the payment to the seller before deleting the incriminating chat messages.
Tan collected the cannabis from a dry riser at a housing block and returned home to weigh it.
He found that it weighed about 510g. From his online research, he knew that his then-wife would face the death penalty if she was convicted of trafficking more than 500g of cannabis.
As he was very angry with her, he proceeded with his plan, again alluding to it in his Telegram conversation with his ex-girlfriend.
He told her he was deleting everything in her phone to be safe and would log out of Telegram. Tan added he would not go to “those normal police”, but rather, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
At about 5am on Oct 17, 2023, the private investigator Tan had hired told him that her car was parked at a car park in north-east Singapore.
Tan drove over, unlocked her car with a set of keys he had and unwrapped the cannabis.
He wore gloves as he placed the 11 packets into the middle compartment of the rear passenger seat and closed it. The brick could not be placed inside the armrest compartment owing to its size.
He then closed and locked the car door. However, as he was leaving the car park, his then-wife appeared.
She had received a notification from her in-car camera mobile application which informed her of a “parking impact” to her car.
When she checked the live footage, she saw Tan walking around her vehicle and decided to check. When Tan saw her, he walked away.
The woman called the police, saying she thought Tan was following her, and that he had tried to open her car before leaving upon noticing her.
Tan drove to Buangkok Square Mall, where he threw away the brick wrapper. He texted his ex-girlfriend about how he had seen his wife, and expressed fear that he might have left his fingerprints behind, or that she might discover the cannabis because of its smell.
Soon after, the police called him asking about his harassment.
He lied to the police that he had been at the car park to change the battery for a GPS tracker he had placed on the car as he suspected her of having an affair.
He then told his ex-girlfriend via Telegram that the police had called. He admitted to her that he had placed 500g of weed in the car, and that this could attract the death penalty.
When his ex-girlfriend expressed shock, Tan said he was planning to report his wife to CNB and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority when she next visited Malaysia.
However, he said he could not do this now, as his wife might accuse him of planting the cannabis. He asked his ex-girlfriend if he should “faster report her first”.
His ex-girlfriend advised Tan to retrieve the cannabis, but Tan felt this would be tricky. He floated the idea of waiting a few days before calling the police, hoping his wife would not notice.
He also proposed calling CNB immediately to report that his wife had been doing drugs all along.
However, his ex-girlfriend again advised him to retrieve the cannabis, and he agreed.
Tan drove back to the car park, entering at about 8am. He saw policemen standing next to the car and made a U-turn to leave.
Unbeknownst to him, they had searched the car and found 11 packets of vegetable matter weighing 523.7g in total.
Tan wanted to head back to retrieve the cannabis at around 2pm as he thought his wife might be asleep, but instead was arrested at his own block.
Tan’s then-wife was also arrested. A search of her room turned up nothing incriminating, and her mobile phone and car were seized.
The 11 packets of vegetable matter were analysed. Although it weighed over 500g, it was found to contain at least 216.17g of cannabis.
The prosecution sought four years and eight months’ jail for Tan, using a framework for the possession of cannabis by weight.
She said Tan had a “nefarious purpose for possessing the drugs, more so than if he had been a simple consumer”.
“His intention to frame the involved party for a serious offence carried high potential harm to an innocent person,” said the prosecutor.
She said Tan’s plan was thought through and moderately sophisticated, involving research into how to acquire drugs, obtaining money to buy it, the penalties for drug offences and how to report a person to CNB.
Tan also took steps to avoid detection by deleting chat messages in his phone and using gloves.
The prosecutor accepted that Tan did not intend for the cannabis to be consumed or circulated, but said this does not mean his offence “should escape the deterrent sentencing policy underlying archetypal drug offences”.
“The accused’s purchase of a significant quantity of drugs, in itself, enabled the local drug trade by lining the coffers of its suppliers and contributing to the impetus for drugs to be trafficked into Singapore,” she said.
For possessing a Class A controlled drug, Tan could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$20,000, or both.