Drug suspects in shooting near Shangri-La remanded one week; one faces additional charge

SINGAPORE — The two suspects charged with drug trafficking in the car that crashed through a checkpoint near Shangri-La hotel last Sunday will be remanded for another week for further investigations, while an additional charge has been pressed against one of them today (June 8).

Muhammad Syahid Mohamed Yasin, 26, and Mohamed Ismail, 31, were first charged last Monday with jointly trafficking about 9g of a substance believed to be diamorphine, also known as heroin.

Muhammad Syahid is now also accused of instigating Mohamad Taufik Zahar — who was shot dead by the police after he accelerated the car towards police officers in the hotel’s direction — to act rashly and endanger the personal safety of Mr Mohamad Zahid Suhaimi and Ms See Toa Chew Yin, whom TODAY understands are police officers.

Court documents showed that Muhammad Syahid shouted “jalan jalan” in Malay which means “Go, go!” in English to Mohamad Taufik, causing the latter to drive in a fast manner towards the direction of Mr Mohamad and Mr See Toa, and in the process of doing so, crashed into a concrete barrier.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang has asked for Mohammad Ismail and Muhammad Syahid to be remanded for another week as investigations are still ongoing. They face possible further offences, he said.

Both will be back in court on June 15.

If found guilty of drug trafficking, they each face five to 20 years in jail and five to 15 strokes of the cane. If convicted of acting rashly to endanger personal safety of others, Muhammad Syahid may be jailed six months or fined S$2,500.