On June 20, 2025, a police officer in Singapore was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment after being convicted of multiple offences involving abuse of police systems and an attempt to solicit sexual favours. The offender, Sean Teo, aged 29, was a police sergeant at the time of the offences. He was sentenced over three charges: unauthorised use of a computer system, solicitation of sexual gratification, and violating the Official Secrets Act.
The offences originated from an incident in late 2019. On November 2, 2019, five women and three men were arrested for suspected drug offences in a suite at Marina Bay Sands (MBS). Sean Teo was on patrol duty that day and was not assigned to the scene. However, after hearing about the case via police radio transmission, he unlawfully accessed an internal police report on the matter.
Following the arrest, one of Teo’s colleagues shared a photograph taken at the MBS suite in a WhatsApp group among police officers. The image displayed white powder on a plate, an MBS room access card, and a rolled-up $2 note. Teo saved this image on his personal mobile phone. He later accessed the police computer system, despite having no involvement in the case, and extracted the names and contact numbers of the five women arrested.
He proceeded to search for the women’s social media accounts. After locating the Instagram profile of one of the women, who was working as an insurance agent, Teo decided to make contact with her. He created a Telegram account not linked to his own mobile number and reached out under the alias "James" on December 7, 2019, pretending to be a potential insurance client.
Teo arranged a meeting with the woman the following day. During this encounter, he revealed that he knew about the drug arrest at MBS and falsely claimed that he could influence the outcome of her case due to connections within the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). In a bid to convince her, he showed her the confidential photo from the MBS suite, which he was not authorised to disclose — a violation under the Official Secrets Act.
Prosecutors stated that Teo made multiple false claims. He told the woman that individuals with CNB connections could manipulate drug test results and that male suspects typically paid bribes, while female suspects could either pay or provide sexual favours. Teo further claimed he was aware of such cases, although none of these claims were true, and he had no actual ability to influence investigations.
At the end of their meeting, Teo explicitly offered to help the woman with her drug case if she agreed to have sex with him. The woman rejected the proposal but continued exchanging messages with him over Telegram. In those subsequent messages, Teo persisted in attempting to persuade her to start a sexual or romantic relationship, claiming she could “sleep with him instead of sleeping with the CNB IO.” He also instructed her not to tell anyone about their conversations and deleted their chat history in an effort to cover his tracks.
Court records do not detail how Teo’s offences eventually came to light. However, when confronted by authorities, he admitted that he had acted out of lust. The woman’s legal outcome from the original drug case was not disclosed in court documents.
Sean Teo was suspended from police service in January 2020. On June 20, 2025, the court set his bail at $15,000. He is scheduled to begin serving his jail term on July 7, 2025.
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