Cheng Lee Meng, 62-years-old, was jailed two months on 30 November for trespassing into a protected SAF training ground under the pretext of “picking pandan leaves”.

What happened?

The incident happened on 9 September 2020 at around 2.45am, Cheng had drove a van through after unlocking a gate that was padlocked at Ama Keng Road Track 9 in Lim Chu Kang, which is an entry point into the SAF training area.

They were then caught by a warrant officer (encik), and they then lied to him that he was a contractor assigned by his company “TKK” to conduct works there.

The warrant officer became suspicious because he wasn’t informed of any works arranged that day, to which Cheng then pretended to call his “boss” and handed the phone to the warrant officer.

The warrant officer asked the “boss” to identify himself and the “boss” then hung up the phone.

There to “pick pandan leaves”

Cheng then told the warrant officer that he was there to pick pandan leaves for prayers and that someone had given him the keys to the area, but refused to reveal who had given him the keys.

The warrant officer then called the police, to which Cheng became agitated and shouted at him, asking him why he was making things difficult.

The duo was then arrested and they told the police that they were there to pick pandan leaves.

He reportedly lied that the SAF gave him a set of keys back in 2000 when he was operating a business at the Ama Keng Dormitory – the gate was built in 2019.

Asked pest controller to duplicate keys

The police found out that Cheng has asked Tan Kim Hua, a pest controller who worked on the grounds, to duplicate a set of keys for him.

Tan agreed to do so but warned him that entering without permission was illegal, he also didn’t hand him the keys personally.

Tan told Cheng information about the training exercises held there because he was not allowed to work on those dates.