Singaporean jailed for planting cannabis in estranged wife’s car to frame her

Feeling angry at his estranged wife and wanting to get her in trouble with the law, a man planted 11 packets of cannabis weighing over 500g in her car, despite knowing it could draw the death penalty.

He revealed his plan to his ex-girlfriend, saying he had been planning the “perfect crime” for the “past few days” and that he thought it would not “link back” to him.

Tan Xianglong, a 37-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to three years and 10 months’ jail on Thursday for one count of possessing at least 216g of cannabis – the amount of pure drugs eventually found in the 11 packets.

Cannabis is a Class A controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A second charge of fabricating false evidence was taken in consideration.

The court heard that Tan was an IT manager living with his parents. He got married to his then-wife in 2021, but their relationship deteriorated.

In October 2022, his wife moved out of his parents’ home, where they had been staying together. They were unable to get a divorce at the time because of how short the marriage was.

Tan consulted lawyers and came away with the idea that they could get a divorce if one of them had a criminal record. At the time of the drug-planting offence, the couple was undergoing separation proceedings.

Tan was aggrieved at the amount of debt and interest that had accrued over the course of his marriage, court documents stated.

He felt that his wife had not “contributed much” and got angry with her. In September 2023, he hired a private investigator to get evidence of her alleged adultery.

When this failed, he began entertaining thoughts of planting illicit drugs in her car, so as to scare her and get her in trouble with the law.

He understood that she would be wrongly arrested and