SINGAPORE: A man who grew cannabis plants in his Yishun flat was sentenced to four years' jail on Wednesday (Mar 25) for cultivating a Class A controlled drug and other drug-related charges.

Artamu Ibrahim, 45, pleaded guilty to one charge of cultivating two cannabis plants at Block 336A, Yishun Street 31, another charge of consuming a controlled drug and a charge of possessing a controlled drug.



A fourth charge of possessing utensils for drug consumption was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers had detected glass apparatuses, suspected to be for smoking drugs, at the parcel post section of SingPost Centre.



Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers raided Artamu's 13th-floor flat on Sep 9 last year and found two small containers containing vegetable matter in the master bedroom.

They also found two pots of cannabis plants in an improvised makeshift greenhouse, and numerous instruments and reagent used for cannabis cultivation.



Interior of a makeshift greenhouse erected within a residential unit in the vicinity of Yishun Street 31. (Photo: CNB)

Artamu was arrested and the seized plants were sent to the Health Sciences Authority.

Both plants – weighing 1.83g and 49.7g – were analysed and found to be cannabis.

Artamu admitted to cultivating cannabis at his home, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Lu Yiwei.

Artamu said he obtained information on how to grow the plants from the Internet, including information on the amount of water, humidity level, pH level and temperature required.

He built a "grow tent" for this purpose and used light bulbs, a spotlight and LED lights to boost plant growth, with fans controlling the temperature in the tent, as well as a ventilator and humidifier for optimal conditions.

On top of this, he used an electric timer to measure the timings for the fans, ventilator and lights to be switched on or off. He also measured the humidity, temperature and soil wetness in the tent with two humidity meters, a thermometer and pH readers.



Artamu also used a camera that was linked to his mobile phone to monitor the meters and the cannabis plants when he was not home.

Equipment and instructions on cultivation of cannabis plants, within a residential unit in vicinity of Yishun Street 31, raided by CNB on Sep 9, 2019. (Photo: CNB)

After his arrest, Artamu provided urine samples to CNB and drugs were detected in them.

The vegetable matter was analysed and found to be a Class A controlled drug, a type of synthetic cannabinoid.

A 52-year-old woman was also arrested at Artamu's flat, but she has not been prosecuted.

The court heard that Artamu had been convicted in 2006 of consumption of cannabis and jailed for 10 months.



Anyone convicted of cultivating cannabis plants can be given between three and 20 years' jail, fined between S$5,000 and S$40,000, or both.