SINGAPORE — A 22-year-old undergraduate who sold cannabis was snared in a sting operation by anti-narcotics officers, a court heard.

Under investigation for a host of drug crimes including possession, consumption and trafficking, Marcus Kum Yijie called the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) hotline seven times in 24 minutes to insult and threaten officers while drunk, a court heard.

Among other things, Kum said, “Send your officers to my house, I would f***ing kill all of them” and “I will f***ing slit your throat”.

At the State Courts on Friday (27 December), Kum, now 24, was jailed for five years, six months and one week, along with five strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to five charges - for trafficking, consuming and possessing drugs, as well as having drug taking utensils and using abusive language on public servants.

Another 10 similar counts were considered in sentencing.

Kum, who has completed his second year of undergraduate studies and is on leave of absence from private educational institution Kaplan Singapore, will begin serving his sentence on 9 January.

Caught red-handed

On 20 December 2017, CNB officers laid a trap for Kum after receiving information that he was selling drugs. An undercover cop contacted the perpetrator at about 11.05am seeking to buy “weed”, the street name for cannabis.

Kum told the officer to meet him outside a pie shop along Soo Chow Walk near Thomson Plaza, where he would sell about 25g of the drug for $250.

At about 1.15pm, Kum passed the undercover officer a plastic bag with the drug and the latter handed over two marked $100 notes and a marked $50 note. The cop then signalled to other officers who moved in and arrested Kum.

Kum led the cops to his landed home nearby. A search of his bedroom uncovered several drugs - cannabis, MDMA or ecstasy, and ketamine - a weighing scale and drug taking tools. His urine also tested positive for cannabis and he admitted taking the drug that morning.

The “weed” which Kum sold to the undercover cop was analysed to contain 19.8g of cannabis. He admitted peddling cannabis for about two months, and had five clients to whom he would sell about 3g to 25g of “weed” per transaction.

Abused cops over phone

Kum was later released on bail. But four months later, on 14 April, he called the CNB hotline and harassed officers multiple times while drunk. In all, he called the hotline seven times over 24 minutes.

At 4.50am Kum said, “Send your officers to my house, I would f***ing kill all of them” and “F*** you and f*** you now”. Shortly after, he said, “Diu Le Lou Mou” which means “F*** your mother”.

At 5am, Kum said, “Bring more than five person and I want to kill all of you, your mother never teach you.” About 10 minutes later, he said, “F*** your mother c*** b***” and “I will f***ing slit your throat”.

Kum’s final phone call was at 5.14am when he said, “You mother never teach you, are you deaf, I will kill all of you.” During the call, he also provided his home address, where he was at.

Police officers who were despatched to his house found him drunk and arrested him.

The punishment for Kum’s drug trafficking offence is a minimum of five years’ jail with five strokes of the cane and a maximum of 20 years’ jail with 15 strokes of the cane.

The maximum punishment for his charge of threatening a public servant is a fine of up to $5,000 and up to 12 months’ jail.

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