|
|
Community
Issues: Entrapment: A
Necessary Enforcement Tool
|
|
Excerpt of article "Young doctor
jailed eight months for possessing ice" in The
Straits Times of 8 Jun 2006 (3) |
|
"Taxi driver's
son Adrian Yeo See Seng had a bright
future as a doctor but the 27-year-old
threw it all away when he experimented
with sex and drugs... |
|
"He was caught
when a man he chatted with online invited
him for a sex session with a third man at
a Bencoolen Street hotel. |
|
"But the two
strangers turned out to be undercover
anti-narcotics officers who found dugs on
Yeo when he arrived, and arrested him. |
|
"He was
yesterday jailed for eight months after he
admitted to having a packet of 0.16g of
methamphetamine or Ice at the Bencoolen
Street Hotel room on April 1..." |
|
|
|
|
Excerpt of article "Entrapment:
Lawyers say narcotics officers crossed the
line in quest to nab offender, but any
method of entrapment is legal here" in The
Straits Times of 9 Jun 2006 (H1) |
|
"...According
to Yeo's mitigation presented in court, he
initially refused the undercover officer's
requests to meet him. While he admitted to
the officer he had drugs, he said they
were for his own consumption only... |
|
"While lawyers
agree some entrapment is necessary for law
enforcement, they say officers should not
tempt an otherwise unwilling person to
commit a crime..." |
|
|
|
|
Excerpt of letter by Lionel De Souza in
the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 10 Jun 2006 (H14) |
|
"...An agent
provocateur is one who suggests the
commission of a crime to another in the
hope that the individual would go along
with the suggestion. |
|
"On the other
hand, an entrapment usually takes place
after due investigation of information,
such as that an individual is engaged in
nefarious activities like trafficking or
abusing controlled drugs. |
|
"After being
satisfied with the authenticity of the
information, and if the enforcement
officers conclude that a sting operation
is needed so as to catch the culprit
red-handed with incriminating evidence, it
would then be perfectly legal and ethical
to resort to entrapment. |
|
"This was what
happened to Yeo when he turned up for a
gay-sex session at the Bencoolen Street
hotel..." |
|
|
|
|
Excerpt of letter by Jackie Lau Wai Wan
(Ms) in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 10 Jun 2006 (H14) |
|
"...I don't
think the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB)
should be playing the devil's role and
going all out to persistently tempt the
weak to commit an offence and then
apprehending them (trainee doctor Adrian
Yeo, in the latest case) in the name of
law and order. |
|
"Such tactics
have no place in a civilised society." |
|
|
|
|
Excerpt of editorial "Entrapment: Fair or
not?" in The
Straits Times of 14 Jun 2006 (22) |
|
"There are
plausible reasons disquiet has spread over
the case of Adrian Yeo, a 26-year-old
houseman who was lured by law enforcement
officers into committing a drugs offence
for which he received a jail sentence of
eight months. The sense of discomfort
centres on the ethics and morality of
entrapment as a validation tool in crime
detection... |
|
"The legality
of entrapment under current law and the
admissibility of evidence so obtained are
not questioned. But it is reasonable to
ask if resort to the method could be
justified whatever the circumstances and
the nature of the offence a person is
under watch for. Yeo was not known to be a
dealer; he said he had only consumed
methamphetamines. Fair-minded people are
entitled to point out it seems neither
fair nor ethical to encourage a person to
break the law, just for enforcement
agencies to gather evidence..." |
|
|
|
|
Excerpt of letter by Mrs Ong-Chew
Peck Wan, Director, Corporate
Communications Division, for Permanent
Secretary (Home Affairs), in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 16 Jun 2006 (H23) |
|
"...In fact, Yeo would not have been of any interest to CNB otherwise;
it was his drug abuse which led CNB to investigate him in the first
place. |
|
"When Yeo was asked if he had any drugs, Yeo volunteered to bring
drugs to the hotel where he was subsequently arrested with
Ecstasy, ｀Ice¨, and Ketamine. |
|
"Adrian Yeo was, therefore, not a law-abiding person enticed into
committing an offence by CNB. In omitting to highlight the fact
that Yeo was a habitual drug abuser, the ST report has misled
readers into thinking that CNB had acted unethically when the
circumstances of the case clearly show the contrary and that CNB
had acted professionally. |
|
"The ST editorial of 14 Jun suggests that law enforcement methods
like entrapment should be reserved for only more serious offences
involving drug trafficking and 'national security', rather than
drug abuse. This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of
the situation. Drug abuse is a serious threat.... |
|
"A majority of those arrested for synthetic drug abuse are first
time offenders. One of the concerns this trend raises is the
mentality of certain segments of our society who think that
synthetic drugs are 'soft' drugs which should be tolerated as they
are acceptable as part of a modern 'cool' lifestyle. This is a
dangerous attitude which we must not allow to take root in our
society. |
|
"The ST editorial also suggested that because Yeo is a
taxi-driver¨s son who made it as a doctor, but whose future is now
uncertain, the action taken against him will 'reinforce in some
people a sense that natural justice had been violated.' |
|
"This is a strange argument. Surely the ST is not suggesting that
the CNB action would be fairer and more just if Yeo had been
related to a person of high social standing? |
|
"This cannot be the way our criminal justice system should work.
Indeed, if the application of our criminal laws and the actions of
our law enforcement agencies are to be dictated by factors such as
an offender¨s family connections, income and social status this
will be highly unjust and perverse, and no Singaporean will stand
for it..." |
|
More..... |
|
 |
|
|
All rights reserved
