SINGAPORE: A former security officer who left his guard post for hours, then forgot to dispose of a dummy bomb to be used in a security exercise, was fined S$1,800 (US$1,333) on Tuesday (Dec 17).
The fake bomb led to an evacuation of the complex at Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, with officers from the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) activated.
Durendran Vicknesh Venkatraman, 46, earlier pleaded guilty to one count each of being absent from his deployed location without valid reason and defrauding his employer by making false entries in the duty logbook.
A charge of lying to a police officer was taken into consideration for his sentencing.
He was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal for the charge of causing alarm to the public by not disposing the dummy bomb.
Sentencing Durendran, District Judge Ow Yong Tuck Leong noted that Durendran had been absent from work for five-and-a-half hours, had not been able to respond to any emergency, and that he had been the sole person on duty.
The judge said that there was no reasonable excuse for his misconduct.
LEFT WORK TO DRINK WITH FRIENDS
Durendran was a licensed security officer of 13 years and had been working part-time at One Imperial Security.
On the night of Jan 4, Durendran was deployed to Sing Industrial Complex, which is at Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2. His shift was from 8pm to 8am the next day.
However, at around 11.20pm, he left his post to meet and drink with friends at Oxley Tower in Tanjong Pagar. He did not tell anyone that he was leaving.
Earlier on, the director of One Imperial asked two freelance external security consultants to conduct a red-teaming exercise with the security officer on duty.
A red-teaming exercise was a simulated attack designed to test the effectiveness of security measures.
The two security consultants arrived at the complex at around 4.25am on Jan 5, but Durendran was not around, and the main gate left open.
They called Durendran, who lied that he was nearby buying food.
One of the consultants placed a fake improvised explosive device (IED) in a brown paper bag at the motorcycle parking lot beside the guardhouse.
They left when Durendran failed to return by 5am, but forgot to remove the fake bomb. The consultants later informed the director of One Imperial that the exercise was cancelled as the security officer was not around.
Durendran returned at about 5.04am. The consultants called Durendran to instruct him to dispose of the fake bomb.
Durendran said he would do so but forgot. Before ending his shift, he recorded in the guard duty logbook that he had been patrolling or on duty inside the guardhouse for his entire shift, even though this was false.
The next security guard who took over the shift noticed the fake bomb and called the police. Multiple police officers and SCDF officers were then dispatched.
More than 100 people were stopped from entering the complex or evacuated during bomb threat investigations, which spanned about 90 minutes.
The prosecution sought at least three weeks’ jail and a fine.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Dan Pan said the conduct of private security officers were a matter of “significant public importance” given their role of safeguarding people and premises from threats.
Mr Pan pointed out that Durendran had “brazenly absented” himself for around six hours for the “frivolous reason of going drinking with his friends”.
The location that Durendran went to, in town, was more than 7km away, Mr Pan added.
“As a consequence of the accused’s absence, the red teaming exercise could not be conducted, and this eventually resulted in the fake bomb being left at the complex.
“While the red-teaming personnel bore primary responsibility to remove the fake bomb, the accused was also partly responsible for the non-removal of the fake bomb as he had been specifically informed to dispose of it and had acknowledged the request, but negligently failed to dispose of the fake bomb,” said Mr Pan.
A security officer who is absent from the place of deployment without any valid reason can be jailed for up to three months, fined up to S$2,000 or both.
The punishment for falsifying records with the intention to defraud an employer is up to 10 years in jail, a fine or both.
