SINGAPORE — A private enforcement officer was sentenced to a week's jail on Monday (Sept 23) for leaking the schedule of joint anti-vape operations by the authorities.

Anwar Khan Ibrahim sent the schedule to a group on messaging platform WhatsApp with seven people, including himself. He had intended to warn the group's members of the upcoming enforcement. 

This schedule was later uploaded onto video-sharing platform TikTok. However, it turned out to be outdated.

On Monday, the 42-year-old pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

Vaping is illegal in Singapore and offenders can be fined up to S$2,000 for the possession, use and purchase of vapes. 

WHAT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ryan Lim Yi Neng told the court that Anwar was an employee of WSH Experts, a private enforcement agency subcontracted to assist the tobacco regulation branch of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

On Jan 4 at about 5pm, a schedule was disseminated to a WhatsApp group called "WSH-HSA-Enforcement Ops" by a HSA staff member to 58 officers from WSH Experts, including Anwar.

This schedule detailed joint anti-vape operations between Jan 8 and 17, DPP Lim said. It involved the Ministry of Health (MOH), the National Environment Agency (NEA), HSA and WSH Experts.

At about 5.25pm, Anwar forwarded a screenshot of the schedule to another WhatsApp group that had seven members, including himself.

Alongside the screenshot, he wrote a caption in Malay: "Guys, anyone who vape or smoke unpaid tax or anything of that sort, please avoid this place and time and relay them to your members relatives & family, okay… There is an ops on this date.”

About 25 minutes after sending the schedule, he deleted the message because he was worried that the information would be spread, DPP Lim said.

However, it was too late — the message had been forwarded "a large number of times over Whatsapp", and was eventually featured in a TikTok post that had 860 likes and 467 shares. Court documents did not state how long the social media post was online.

"Unbeknown to the accused, the schedule that he had forwarded contained outdated information about the joint enforcement operations," DPP Lim added.

"The dates, times and locations of the joint enforcement operations had been amended twice beyond the version sent out by the accused. The dates, times and locations of the joint enforcement operations were also changed further for good measure after news of the leak reached HSA."

A senior assistant director of HSA's tobacco regulation branch made a police report about the incident on Jan 5 at about 1pm.

'DETERRENT SENTENCE NECESSARY'

DPP Lim sought a short jail term for Anwar, noting that deterrence should be a primary sentencing consideration.

This is because Anwar's actions were "against the institutions of justice and contaminate the rule of law"

"A deterrent sentence is necessary to serve as a salutary reminder to other private enforcement officers not to abuse the trust reposed in them by the public," he added.

Lawyers Joseph Lum and Jason Too from the Public Defender's Office asked for Anwar to be fined instead.

They said that Anwar had regretted his decision to disseminate the schedule and tried to mitigate the situation by deleting the message.

They added that there was negligible harm since the schedule Anwar sent was outdated.

Anyone found guilty of obstructing the course of justice faces up to seven years' jail or a fine, or both.

Those found guilty of attempting to do so face the same punishment.