SINGAPORE, Aug 30 — Angry about drawn-out divorce proceedings, a Singapore man decided to hasten his divorce by planting cannabis in his estranged wife’s car.
CNA reported that Tan Xianglong, 37, was frustrated at the amount of debt as well as the accrued interest over the course of his marriage, according to court documents, and thinking that his wife had not contributed much in terms of finances.
He had married his wife in 2021 but after their relationship broke down, she moved out of their family home in October 2022.
They were unable to get a divorce then because their marriage was considered too short and after consulting lawyers, he got the idea that it would be easier to get a divorce if one of them had a criminal record.
He confided his plan to his ex-girlfriend: to frame his wife by placing 11 packets of cannabis weighing over 500 grammes in total in her car, even though he knew he could be setting her up for a death penalty.
However, he was soon found out and was sentenced yesterday to three years and 10 months’ jail for one count of possession of at least 216 grammes of cannabis that was found in the packets.
His wife had caught him hovering near the car after he had planted the drugs (at the time she did not realise what he had done) as she had gotten a notification alert from her in-car camera.
She then reported him to the police for harassment, and in the course of investigation, police had searched her car, found the drugs and arrested her.
After searching her house and finding no incriminating evidence, the police instead begun investigating her husband who had claimed he placed a GPS on the car to attain proof of adultery.
Tan could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$20,000 (RM66,192) or both for possession of a Class A controlled drug.