Dave Teo

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Corporal Dave Teo Min is a Full Time National Servicemen (NSF) from 1st Singapore Infantry Regiment who gained national headlines when on 2 September 2007, he went absent without official leave (AWOL) with his SAR-21 live firearm from Mandai Hill Camp in Singapore.^[1]^[2]

He was subsequently arrested by the Police with possession of the assault rifle and a knife twenty hours later in the Orchard Road shopping district.^[3]^[4] Currently facing charges in the High Court, Teo faces up to 14 years' imprisonment and corporal punishment for various weapon charges.^[5] The incident has also led to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) reviewing and tightening its security procedures in its army camps.^[6]^[7]

[edit] Absence without official leave

On 2 September 2007 at 11.59pm, Teo was discovered to be missing from Mandai Hill Camp with his SAR-21 assault rifle and five bullets that was issued to him for guard duty. The Military Police Command was called in at 3.30am to conduct a search within the camp premises, but after finding that he was no longer in camp the Singapore Police Force was contacted at 5.45am to initiate an island wide manhunt with 200 officers.

Twenty hours after Teo was first to have gone absent without official leave (AWOL), he was captured by the Police Special Tactics and Rescue in the third floor toilet of Orchard Cineleisure in the Orchard Road, a popular shopping district for the youth. The arrest occurred so quickly that security guards were not aware of it.^[3] Recovered from him was eight 5.56mm rounds (the extra three bullets were found to be taken from a live-firing exercise in August),^[5] and the SAR-21 rifle. A 40cm knife was additionally found later that was believed to belong to Teo.

It was believed that Teo and an accomplice, Ong Boon Jun, spent their night in a hotel in Geylang. Ong was also later arrested and faces similar charges. Shortly after both arrests, the room was raided by the Police for evidence.^[8]

Ministry of Defense released a press release shortly after his capture acknowledging the incident, and revealed that he was due to complete his National Service stint in October 2007, barely less than a month.^[9] This was the first time in more than 20 years where a serviceman went AWOL with a live rifle, the last one being in 1986 which involved the stealing of a AR-15 and 30 bullets.^[3]

[edit] Investigation and charge

Initially after his arrest, there were online speculations on the reasons Teo went AWOL. Background checks on blogs suggested that he might have a failed relationship with his girlfriend Crystal Liew.^[10] On 5 September 2007, The Straits Times published on its cover page an interview with Liew on her relationship with Teo.^[11] In the interview, she claimed that they broke off because Teo was possessive, and subsequently death threats were made by him against her and her family.^[11]

An investigation into the incident revealed lapses in camp security that concerned the Parliament.^[6]^[12] Teo was believed to have climbed out of the second floor window and escaped from the sight of sentries and CCTV, exploiting a weakness in the guardroom's design.^[7] The physical security of all camps have since undergone review and reinforced, with the Mandai Hill Camp in particular now filled with metal grilles and fish-eye mirrors.^[7]

Teo and Ong face multiple charges under the Arms Offences Act. Two more charges were added from the original which involved the 40cm knife and the eight 5.56mm rounds.^[5]^[13]^[14] Teo is not expected to plead guilty to the charges, and the trial is to take place before the High Court.^[15] Teo and Ong face imprisonment and caning should they be found guilty by the court.