SINGAPORE — Iskandar Rahmat, a 14-year veteran in the police force, schemed to pay off his bank debts by robbing and killing father-and-son duo Tan 
Boon Sin, 67, and Tan Chee Heong, 42.

On July 10, 2013, the body of the younger Tan was caught under his father’s silver Toyota Camry and dragged for more than 1km along Upper Serangoon Road, shocking onlookers.

The bloody trail led back to their home at 14J Hillside Drive, where his father’s body lay, slain with multiple stab wounds.

In a rare statement on an individual crime by the Home Affairs Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who was then the Home Affairs Minister, said the police would spare no effort to make sure that justice is served.

Iskandar was arrested at a popular eatery in Johor Baru after a 54-hour manhunt.

Then-Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee said Iskandar’s “fall from grace” brought dishonour to the rest of the force.

Over a nine-day trial that started in October 2015, the court heard that Iskandar had hatched the plan to rob the elder Tan’s money to avert a possible sacking over his “financial embarrassment”. He carried out his scheme a day before a deadline to make a S$50,000 lump-sum payment to clear a S$65,000 bank debt.

Lying to Tan that he was an intelligence officer, Iskandar convinced him to place a closed-circuit television camera — which was a dummy — inside Tan’s safe deposit box at Certis Cisco in Paya Lebar, and to remove his money from it, in order to help the police nab the thief who was stealing from the box.

Iskandar then accompanied Tan back to his home with a bag containing S$600,000 and other valuables.

Iskandar claimed in court that he had planned a rob-and-run job. He argued that he had reacted in self-defence when Tan attacked him first. When the younger Tan stepped into the house, he charged and threw a punch at Iskandar, who retaliated and stabbed him.

Iskandar’s version of events was rejected by the High Court at the end of his trial, and dismissed again by the highest court of the land on Friday (Feb 3).