SINGAPORE — Wanting to cause trouble for his supervisor after a dispute, a labourer stole a projectile from an ammunition dismantling plant and flung it into a forested area, sparking a two-week search for the missing bullet.

Goh Wee Eng, 48, was sentenced to three months’ jail and fined S$4,000 on Friday (Dec 28) for unauthorised possession of a projectile. In default of the fine, he will have to serve another month in jail.

Goh worked in the ammunition services division of Advanced Material Engineering (AME), which has a contract with the military to dispose of explosives on behalf of ST Kinetics, the specialty vehicles arm of defence contractor ST Engineering.

He was assigned to perform manual labour such as moving and packing, and was not supposed to handle ammunition or explosives directly.

On Oct 2 last year, he had a dispute with his supervisor, then-technical specialist Goh Boon Heng, 58.

Three days later, Goh decided to cause trouble for his superior because he was still angry.

Sometime around noon on Oct 5, he entered a plant that dismantles 35mm high-explosive incendiary ammunition rounds, which he was not supposed to do without supervision.

He saw an unsealed box containing projectiles and took one. It contained 113g of Hexatol, a type of explosive similar to dynamite and which can produce a shockwave if detonated. 

After leaving the building, he threw the projectile into a sloped forested area behind the plant.

Half an hour later, a worker responsible for counting each batch of projectiles noticed that there was one missing.

During the search that ensued, all staff members had to stop work as areas such as the projectile packing area, de-bulleting machine and cartridge packing area were examined.

Goh knew he was responsible for it but did not own up.

His supervisor’s suspicions were up and, when interviewed by senior management, he said Goh might be behind the missing bullet.

Confronted the next day, Goh admitted to his deed.

AME began searching a forested area measuring 50m by 20m near Rifle Range Road in Bukit Timah and had to spend S$5,817 on professional grass-cutters and metal detectors for the search.

After a fruitless four days, a police report was made and officers from Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood Police Centre, the investigation branch of Jurong Police Division, the Police K9 unit and the Singapore Armed Forces were roped in to help.

The police and the Singapore Armed Forces put in 98 man-hours and AME put in 1,770 man-hours, toting up S$18,427.60 in labour cost.

On Oct 19, the projectile was finally recovered 5cm to 7.5cm beneath the soil — 7.5m from the location that Goh said he had thrown it.

Seeking at least a four-month jail term and a significant fine for Goh, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stephanie Koh said that he had committed the offence “out of malice and vindictiveness” as he was “determined to ‘cause trouble’ for (his supervisor)”.

“Having worked at the plant for about two months, the accused would have known that all the component parts of the dismantled high-explosive incendiary ammunition rounds were meticulously counted at frequent fixed intervals to ensure that nothing is missing,” she said.

“The accused therefore anticipated that a missing projectile would cause great disruption to workflow and potentially dire consequences for his supervisor.”

As Goh had thrown it into a densely forested area, DPP Koh added that he never intended for the projectile to be found or to face the consequences of his misdeed.

“Locating it (is) quite literally like finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.

District Judge Victor Yeo Khee Eng agreed with the prosecution that a strong message must be sent to those who deliberately mishandle arms and explosives.

For possessing a projectile, Goh could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to S$5,000 under the Arms and Explosives Act.