24-year-old former Certis Cisco auxiliary police officer, Syarifah Nur Nabilah Syed Omar, pleaded guilty to one count of communicating information obtained in contravention of the Official Secrets Act.
She was subsequently sentenced to 1-week imprisonment.
She had sent deployment plans to Afendi Mohamed Rashid, 36, who then sent the information to a Whatsapp group with more than 200 members in it.
What happened?
Syarifah was an active mobility enforcement officer with LTA, who patrol pedestrian walkways to detect errant PMD riders.
LTA staff would plan for the areas of each team’s daily patrol, with information about the specific officers to be deployed at specific streets and park connectors, as well as the time, which changes from day to day and is unknown to the public.
Syarifah resigned from her job on 20 May 2021 but was still inside a Whatsapp group where her team leader shares the daily deployment to the team.
She continued to receive the deployment plans from 21 May to 1 June last year and on 1 June, she took a screenshot of the deployment plan sent inside the group and sent it to Afendi, who met while they were doing food deliveries.
They would share information about the enforcement efforts so they know where to avoid the officers, and Syarifah wanted to warn Afendi.
Afendi then forwarded the deployment plans to a WhatsApp chat group with about 211 people, which were then forwarded by them to at least three other chat groups.
Syarifah’s ex-team leader then made a police report about the leaked plans and Syarifah then deleted the screenshot and her message to Afendi, who also did the same.
Afendi was contacted by an investigating officer on 2 June 2021, but he blocked the officer’s number and refused to go to the police station for an interview.
Another officer then called him to come for an interview and he hung up, before getting arrested in December 2021.