Feeling angry at his estranged wife and wanting her in trouble with the law, Tan Xianglong, 37, planted eleven packets of cannabis weighing over 500 g in her car, knowing the amount could draw the death penalty.[1][2] He told his ex-girlfriend over Telegram that he had been planning the perfect crime for days and believed it would not link back to him.[1]
Tan bought the cannabis brick on Telegram for S$2,600 on 16 October 2023 after finding cannabis the cheapest drug per gram, weighed it at home at about 510 g, and researched that trafficking more than 500 g of cannabis carries the death penalty.[1] At about 5 am on 17 October he unlocked his wife’s car at a north-east Singapore car park with keys he held and hid the packets, then dumped the wrapper at Buangkok Square Mall.[1] His plan unravelled when his wife, alerted by her in-car camera, found him loitering around the vehicle.[1][2]
Police searched the car, found eleven packets weighing 523.7 g in total, and arrested his wife; finding nothing at her home, they turned the investigation on Tan and arrested him at his block.[1][2] Laboratory analysis found the packets held at least 216.17 g of cannabis, a Class A controlled drug.[1][2] On 29 August 2024 Tan was sentenced to three years and ten months’ jail for one count of possession; the prosecution had sought four years and eight months.[1][2] His motive, the court heard, was that lawyers had told him a criminal record for either spouse could unlock the divorce their short marriage otherwise barred.[1][2]
