Singapore cops find gun smuggled from Malaysia in drug bust on gang member

A Singapore secret society member bought a gun in Malaysia for about S$1,400 and smuggled it back to Singapore to scare rival gang members.

Food stall operator Muhammad Ikram Abdul Aziz hid the weapon and eight bullets in his flat and was caught only when Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers raided his place looking for drugs.

The 26-year-old Singaporean was sentenced on Monday to nearly eight years jail with six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to being in possession of a Shooters Seahawk semiautomatic .45 pistol, reports the Straits Times.

The case involving his friend, Amirul Asyraff Muhammad Junus, also 26, whose love life had started the series of unfortunate events off, is still pending.

Deputy public prosecutor Norine Tan said that the two men were close friends and members of the same secret society.

In January 2019, Amirul discovered that a man known as “Faris” had beaten up his former wife outside Club Baliza, a nightspot in Marina Square. She later told Amirul that Faris belonged to a rival gang.

“Amirul told Ikram about this incident to convey his unhappiness and asked him for his advice on how to solve the problem,” Tan said.

“Amirul wanted to take revenge on her behalf but Ikram told Amirul not to act rashly and said that he would help him but did not want to get into a fight because Ikram had a young daughter.”

Ikram then decided to buy a gun to scare the members of the rival gang and show them that Amirul could not be bullied.

He went to a Johor Bahru shopping mall tattoo shop and met a man known only as “Boy JB” who told him that he would look for a gun for him. Ikram gave S$900 in advance to Boy JB and went back to Singapore to await the call.

The call from Boy JB duly came and Ikram returned to Johor Baru with his parents in their car. He then deposited RM1,500, about S$500 into Boy JB’s bank account.

Boy JB met him later that day to hand him the weapon and eight bullets.

Ikram wrapped the gun and bullets in a towel which he put in his bag and spirited into Singapore the next day.

Tan told the court: “Ikram decided to bring the gun back to Singapore while travelling with his parents as he had observed before that customs officers would seldom check his belongings if he was travelling with his parents.”

Later that month, when Amirul came to his flat for dinner, Ikram showed him the gun which he then returned to its hiding place.

In October two CNB officers detained Ikram for suspected drug consumption.

After interviewing him, the CNB and the Singapore police force escorted him back to his home to search it for drugs. No drugs were found but the search uncovered the pistol and bullets.

Further investigations revealed that Amirul had allegedly been in Ikram’s company despite knowing about the pistol. His case is still pending.

For being in possession of a gun in Singapore, an offender can be jailed for between five and 10 years and receive at least six strokes of the cane.

The Straits Times understands that this is the first case involving the illegal possession of a firearm since 2009.