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Ex-cop shared police photos for bribes

This article is more than 12 months old

Man pleads guilty to OSA offences and corruption


After snapping pictures of people arrested in a riot for his work, a police station inspector shared them with an outsider, for a cash reward.

Terence Lam Guo Long, now 38, had abused his authority when he showed confidential police photographs for bribes totalling $1,000.

He was jailed for seven months and six weeks, and ordered to pay a $1,000 penalty yesterday after pleading guilty to two charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and one count of corruption.

Two more charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Lam committed these offences between October 2015 and January last year when he was still a policeman. He resigned in February last year.

Lam joined the Singapore Police Force in 2001 and was later deployed to Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre.

Between 2008 and 2009, he got to know dispatch driver Lim Sua Huat, now 61. Lim approached Lam after the latter and his colleagues arrested 13 people for rioting in Clive Street in Little India on Oct 4, 2015.

The police officers had used their mobile phones to take pictures of the rioters for work purposes, and Lim wanted those pictures, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Sng.

He added: "Lim said that the headman of one of the gangs involved in the fight wanted to see the photos of the arrested individuals so that he could kick the troublemakers out of his gang.

"The accused told Lim that he would not send the photographs to him but would instead show them to him on his mobile phone."

Later that month, the two men met in Veerasamy Road and Lam showed Lim the pictures. Two months later, Lim gave Lam $500 as a reward.

On Jan 19 last year, Lim called Lam again, asking him to send over the photographs of some individuals in the rioting case.

This time, Lam transmitted five pictures via Whatsapp. He later received another $500 from Lim as a reward.

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