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A Singapore policeman once portrayed as a model officer was charged over the gruesome double murder of a businessman and his son in a case that has shocked the city-state.

Senior Staff Sergeant Iskandar Rahmat, 34, was accused of killing car workshop owner Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his son Tan Chee Heong, 42, last Wednesday.

The older man was fatally slashed in his home while his son's body was found a kilometre (half a mile) away after being dragged under one of the family's cars, leaving a trail of blood on a busy road as other motorists watched in horror.

Iskandar, once portrayed as a model officer on the Singapore Police Force website, abandoned the car and fled to Malaysia by scooter but was quickly arrested and repatriated to Singapore.

Singapore media said the suspect, a married 14-year veteran of the force, was bankrupt and under an official investigation for failing to report his personal financial problems to his superiors. He was banned from carrying firearms while under investigation.

There was no immediate indication of a motive for the murders but a police spokesman confirmed reports that Iskandar had attended to a theft complaint filed by the elder Tan in November last year, after which the sergeant was reassigned to another position.

The case has shocked Singapore, a densely populated island of 5.3 million people which prides itself on its low crime rate.

According to official statistics, the number of murders in Singapore hit a 20-year low of 11 in 2012, down from 16 in 2011.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee said: "Our police force and every policeman and policewoman is tarred by the actions of this single officer."

"We have now captured officer Iskandar and we will prosecute him to the maximum extent. He is a murder suspect and will eventually receive just deserts for the heinous crime that he is accused of committing," the police chief added.