SINGAPORE: Three lapses in the SAFs systems and procedures have
been identified concerning the recent incident where a fulltime
national serviceman walked out of Mandai Hill Camp with his rifle
and ammunition during his guard duty, said Defence Minister Teo
Chee Hean.
20yearold fulltime national serviceman Corporal Dave Teo, who
was serving as an infantryman in the First Battalion, Singapore
Infantry Regiment (1 SIR) has been charged with illegally carrying
a firearm after escaping from his camp on the night of 2 September
and was caught at Cineleisure on Orchard Road after a 20hour
manhunt.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Minister Teo said the SAF had
convened a Higher Board of Inquiry (HBOI) to determine how the
incident took place and while it reviewed that the SAFs current
systems are sound, they rely on people for effective
implementation.
In this case, the first weakness the HBOI identified was the
implementation and supervision of guard room procedures at Mandai
Hill Camp on that night when Corporal Teo slipped out.
It also revealed that there was a flaw in the physical construction
of Mandai Hill Camp that enabled him to escape without being
detected.
The third lapse was the mismanagement of the postincident
reporting procedures, which require quick reporting of all serious
incidents including missing arms and ammunition.
On 2 September, Corporal Teo was assigned patrolling duty and its
procedures require it to be conducted on twohour shifts and in
pairs.
Guards on patrol duties are also required to make situational
reporting to the guard room at halfhour intervals but these were
not enforced properly or Corporal Teos absence would have been
detected earlier.
The camps physical security is also in question as it has been
designed to prevent unauthorized entry and not unauthorized
exit.
Investigations showed that Corporal Teo did not leave by the camp
gates but absconded by jumping the far corner of the secondfloor
parapet of the Guard Room onto the carpark outside the camp
premises, which was out of the visual scope of the other
guards.
Before doing so, he dismantled his rifle and concealed it in his
field pack.
This incident has also brought to light a significant breach of
reporting standards.
For serious security incidents such as those involving missing arms
and ammunition, the units Duty Operations Officer is required to
report the incident to the Armys General Staff Operations Centre
within 30 minutes.
However, in this case, Corporal Teo, together with his firearm and
ammunition, was discovered missing by the Guard Commander at
11.59pm on 2 September, but the Armys General Staff Operations
Centre was only informed of this incident at 3am the next
day.
The Military Police were alerted at 3.30am and when their
preliminary investigations showed that the missing firearm and
ammunition were no longer on the camp premises, the Police were
contacted at 5.45am.
When Corporal Teo was arrested, his firearms and eight rounds of
ammunition were recovered. All five rounds of 5.56 ammunition which
were issued to him for guard duty on 2 September were
retrieved.
However, investigations revealed that additional three 5.56
millimetre tracer rounds were used during a section live firing
exercise that he participated in two weeks earlier. The police and
the SAF are still investigating exactly how he acquired those three
tracer rounds.
Minister Teo stressed that concrete action by MINDEF and the SAF
have been taken to rectify the three lapses.
He added that following this incident, the SAF has audited and
reviewed the camp guard security of all SAF camps to determine if
such noncompliance of orders or procedures exists in other
camps.
However, Mr Teo said that the audit revealed that this was a
problem localised to this unit.
Nonetheless, the SAF has stepped up the frequency of security
audits of all SAF camps and will continue to focus on effective
training and supervision to ensure that servicemen at all levels
know the procedures and how to implement them.
Personnel found to have been negligent in their conduct of duties
in this case will also be punished.
During an interview with his Platoon Commander in June this year,
Corporal Teo admitted that he was stressed over relationship
problems with his girlfriend.
The criminal case against Corporal Teo is pending.
