Man in Geylang found with illegal handcuffs, tried to bribe police with S$40, jailed

A man, who was caught in Geylang illegally possessing handcuffs, tried to bribe a police officer with S$40 to "drink coffee" in exchange for not bringing him in for investigations.

When the officer rejected his offer, Chinese national Chen Dongliang, 32, lunged towards him and tried to put the notes in his pants pocket multiple times.

Chen was arrested on the spot in the May 2021 incident.

Chen, now 35, was sentenced to three months' and three weeks' jail on Jun. 16, CNA reported.

Caught with illegal handcuffs

Court documents seen by Mothership indicated that the incident took place on May 26, 2021 at Lorong 31 Geylang.

At 12:42pm, a member of the public called "999" and reported that a man in the vicinity had handcuffs with him and was on a call.

Two police officers attached with Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre were dispatched to attend to the incident.

When they arrived, the officers saw Chen sitting under a tree at the back lane of Lorong 31 Geylang.

They approached Chen for a spot check and asked him in Mandarin for his particulars.

Chen produced his work permit.

The first officer searched Chen and found a pair of handcuffs on him.

When asked why he had them, Chen claimed the handcuffs belonged to his girlfriend who had left Singapore, and that he had brought the handcuffs out to dispose of them.

The officer told Chen that it was illegal for him to have handcuffs.

He also told Chen he would report the situation to his supervisors, who would assess if Chen should be brought back to the police station to have his statement recorded.

Tried to bribe police

Chen admitted in later investigations that this made him afraid and he wanted to persuade the officers to release him instead.

Body cam footage subsequently showed Chen attempting to bribe the officer at least four times.

Chen first took out four S$10 notes and tried pressing the money on the first officer, saying in Mandarin, "Monies for you all to drink coffee.”

When the officer refused, Chen was undeterred and continued to offer the money, “I know you all very tired, take the monies to drink coffee”.

The officer then directly asked Chen if he was trying to bribe him, to which Chen replied in Mandarin, “Let me go this once.”

Chen also did not obey the first officer's instructions to sit down, but "physically lunged" towards him and tried to stuff the notes in his pocket.

When this happened, the second officer restrained Chen by his arm and shoulder.

The first officer also warned Chen that his actions constituted bribery and he would be arrested if he did it again.

Arrested

However, Chen persisted in offering money to the officer with the intention to induce him to not commence investigations or to take law enforcement action, prosecutors noted in court documents.

Chen was arrested on the spot for the attempted bribery of a police officer.

He was brought to Bedok Police Division Headquarters, before the case was handed over to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Chen was released on station bail the day after the incident on May 27, 2021.

Despite being given a conditional warning, Chen was found to have committed a similar offence in 2022.

Then, Chen had bribed an auxiliary police officer with S$750 over three occasions to refrain from taking enforcement against him for peddling sexual enhancement drugs, prosecutors said.

Pleaded guilty on first day of trial

Prosecutors sought a sentence of up to four months' and one week's imprisonment for Chen.

Chen initially claimed trial but ended up pleading guilty to a charge of graft on the first day of trial.

An additional charge for the 2022 offence was taken into consideration for sentencing.

In mitigation, Chen's defence lawyer brought up past cases and asserted that his client had not devised a scheme of corruption, but had offered the bribe on the "spur of the moment", CNA reported.

The lawyer sought eight to 10 weeks' jail for Chen.

Chen was sentenced to three months' and three weeks' jail for the graft offence on Jun. 16.

He still faces charges for causing hurt in an unrelated incident in May 2025.

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