A man’s plan to incriminate his estranged wife by planting cannabis in her car backfired when she discovered his scheme, leading to his arrest instead.
Tan Xianglong, a 37-year-old Singaporean, planted 11 packets of marijuana in her vehicle, knowing that this crime could draw the death penalty.
Tan got married to his then-wife in 2021. Their marriage was short-lived, as in October 2022, she moved out of his parent’s house, where the couple had been staying.
Their short relationship came in the way of making their breakup official. In Singapore, you cannot file for a divorce if you have been married for less than three years, unless permission is obtained to do so, according to Singapore Courts.
A man got arrested after trying to incriminate his estranged wife by planting 11 packets of cannabis in her car
Image credits: CRYSTALWEED cannabis / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
After consulting lawyers, the IT manager concluded that they could get a divorce if his then-wife was found guilty of a criminal offense.
The two had accumulated debt during their marriage, which had become unmanageable to Tan. He thought his former wife “had not contributed” much to the finances of their relationship, and he wanted to punish her for it.
The man confided his intentions to another woman, an ex-girlfriend, via Telegram. On October 14, 2023, he told her he had been planning “the perfect crime” and that it would not be traced to him, as per Channel News Asia.
He also told her he had spent “quite a bit” on it, and he was “not sure” if it’d result in his then-wife being on the news.
Tan Xianglong, a 37-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to three years and ten months in jail for one count of possessing at least 216g of cannabis
Two days later, he contacted a local dealer and bought a “brick” of cannabis, the cheapest drug they sold.
The drugs cost him S$2,600 (US$1,997). Tan didn’t have the money, so he asked a friend to transfer the payment to the dealer.
The cannabis weighed 510g. From his online research, Tan knew that his then-wife would face the death penalty if she were convicted of trafficking more than 500g of marijuana.
Speaking with his ex-girlfriend on Telegram, he told her his plans to report his then-wife to the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) instead of the “normal police.”
Tan hired a private investigator to follow his then-wife and let him know when he could plant the drug undetected.
On October 17, 2023, Tan received a message informing him that she had parked her car in northeast Singapore. He went to the location, unlocked the car with a set of keys he had, and used gloves to place the 11 packets into the middle compartment of the rear passenger seat.
Little did he know that his then-wife had an in-car camera app that informed her of the “parking impact” on her car. The woman received a notification and checked the live footage, which showed Tan mysteriously walking around her car.
Tan carried out his plan despite knowing that his estranged wife would face the death penalty if she were convicted
When she got to the parking lot, Tan fled the scene, prompting the woman to call the police under the suspicion that she was being followed.
Then, when the police called, Tan told them he had been in the car park because he wanted to change the battery for a GPS tracker he had placed on the car after suspecting that his then-wife was having an affair.
Tan texted his ex-girlfriend again, telling her the details of the plan and that the police were investigating.
He asked her whether to “report her first,” hoping his wife and the police would not notice that he had planted the drugs.
After learning that the plan could result in a death penalty, his ex-girlfriend advised him to retrieve the cannabis.
Tan followed the woman’s advice and drove back to the scene. By the time he arrived, officers had already found the marijuana packets. He tried to flee again, but he was arrested at his own block later that day.
On Thursday (August 29), he was sentenced to three years and ten months in jail for one count of possessing at least 216g of cannabis, the amount of pure drugs eventually found in the 11 packets.
His then-wife was also investigated, but a search of her room and mobile phone found nothing incriminating.
Tan was arrested after the woman’s in-car camera app informed her of his intentions
A second charge of fabricating false evidence was taken into consideration for Tan, according to Channel News Asia.
“His intention to frame the involved party for a serious offense carried high potential harm to an innocent person,” said the prosecutor.
Investigators concluded that Tan’s plan was carefully thought-through, involving research into the penalties for drug offenses, obtaining money to buy drugs, using gloves, and deleting messages on his phone.
“The accused’s purchase of a significant quantity of drugs, in itself, enabled the local drug trade by lining the coffers of its suppliers and contributing to the impetus for drugs to be trafficked into Singapore,” the prosecutor added.
“What he should be convicted of is attempted murder,” one social media user wrote
