Passengers in shooting near Shangri-La charged with drug offences

SINGAPORE — The two passengers in the car that crashed through a checkpoint near Shangri-La Hotel, which had been set up for a high-level security summit, were yesterday charged with drug trafficking.

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

The older man was in the Singapore General Hospital and was charged via a video link; the younger man was charged at the State Courts and indicated that he wished to engage a lawyer.

The duo were in the red Subaru Impreza driven by Mohamed Taufik Zahar, 34, who was shot dead by the police after he accelerated the car towards police officers in the hotel’s direction when questioned at about 4.36am on Sunday.

Preliminary investigations showed that the incident was isolated and not terrorism-related, said the police.

District Judge Jasbendar Kaur allowed Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang’s application for Mohamed Ismail and Muhammad Syahid to be remanded for a week for possible further offences. They can be taken out for investigations.

Their cases will be mentioned in court next Monday. If found guilty, they each face five to 20 years in jail and five to 15 strokes of the cane.

According to the police, Mohamed Ismail was wanted for drug-related offences and for failing to stop at a roadblock. Both he and Muhammad Syahid have previous drug-related offences and criminal records.

Mohamed Taufik was wanted for failing to attend court for an offence of criminal intimidation and has drug-related antecedents and other criminal records.

The dead driver was wanted for failing to attend court for an offence of criminal intimidation and has drug-related antecedents and other criminal records. A coroner’s inquiry will be conducted for him.

The checkpoint breached by the trio, who were all Singaporeans, was part of security measures for the Shangri-La Dialogue, which was attended by many top officials.

These included Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Admiral Sun Jianguo, vice-chief of staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army. The three-day event ended on Sunday.