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Nearly 3 years’ jail for man who used fake $1,000 note to buy cough syrup, sleeping pills

2024-04-02 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE – A man, who illegally bought cough syrup from an online seller and used a counterfeit $1,000 note for the transaction, was sentenced to two years and 10 months’ jail, and a fine of $3,000 on April 2.

Khalid Abdullah, 34, who is unemployed, bought the medication after a doctor refused to prescribe it to him in 2022.

After that, Khalid tried to exchange six pieces of counterfeit $1,000 Singapore dollar notes for foreign currency notes at a DBS Bank branch in Woodlands.

In March, Khalid pleaded guilty to one count each of using a counterfeit note and being in possession of such items. He had also admitted to a harassment charge.

Defence lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu told the court that his client had bought the notes in different denominations from a supplier on e-commerce site Shopee.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that in March 2022, Khalid asked a doctor at Woodlands Polyclinic to prescribe him four bottles of sedative cough syrup.

He turned aggressive when he failed to get the medication, and the polyclinic’s deputy head doctor was called in.

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The doctor then tried to explain to Khalid that they could not prescribe him the cough syrup.

An irate Khalid verbally abused the doctor and charged at him, saying: “I am not going to leave, what are you going to do?”

He also grabbed the doctor’s shirt while shouting at him.

In October 2022, Khalid used a counterfeit $1,000 note to pay for $400 worth of cough mixture and sleeping pills from an unauthorised online seller. He was given $600 in change.

Police arrested Khalid a month later, and he was found with nearly $18,500 worth of counterfeit notes in his possession.

Mr Singh had pleaded for Khalid to be given two years and six months’ jail as well as $3,000 fine, stressing that his client is suffering from multiple ailments including diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

The lawyer from Amarjit Sidhu Law added that according to an Institute of Mental Health doctor, Khalid also suffers from conditions including major depressive disorder and zolpidem use disorder. Zolpidem is a medication used to treat insomnia.

Mr Singh told the court that Khalid is remorseful and regrets his actions.