Public Prosecutor v Glenn Quek Woon Beng

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judgment Date: 05 January 2026
• Neutral Citation: [2026] SGDC 9
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Parties: Public Prosecutor,Glenn Quek Woon Beng

Public Prosecutor v Glenn Quek Woon Beng

[2026] SGDC 9

District Arrest Case No 916058 of 2023 and 13 Others, Magistrate's Appeals No 9193 of 2025

Public Prosecutor

Glenn Quek Woon Beng

District Court

Nicholas Lai

Criminal Law - Offences - Possession of offensive weapons

Criminal Law - Statutory offences - Misuse of Drugs Act - Consumption of a specified drug

Criminal Law - Statutory offences - Misuse of Drugs Act - Possession of controlled drug

Criminal Law - Statutory offences - Misuse of Drugs Act - Possession of controlled drug for the purpose of trafficking

Criminal Procedure and Sentencing - Sentencing

DPP Benjamin Low (Attorney-General’s Chambers) for the Public Prosecutor

Ashvin Hariharan (Ashvin Law Corporation) for the Accused.

[LawNet Editorial Note: An appeal to this decision has been filed in MA 9193/2025.]

5 January 2026

District Judge Nicholas Lai:

Introduction

1. On 15 December 2022, officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (“CNB”) acted on information received and raided the residence of the accused, Glenn Quek Woon Beng (“Mr Quek”). The CNB officers arrested Mr Quek after finding various illicit drugs and drug taking utensils in his possession when he had no authority to be in such possession. He was also found in possession of a knuckle duster without lawful authority or purpose. His urine subsequently tested positive for methamphetamine. Two days later, on 17 December 2022, Mr Quek was released on bail by the CNB.

2. Mr Quek did not stop his involvement with drugs. On 3 October 2023, slightly less than ten months after his first arrest, CNB officers raided his residence again upon acting on information received and this time around, he was found with even more drugs. Mr Quek had in his possession, for the purpose of trafficking, 77 packets of methamphetamine, among other drugs. His urine subsequently tested positive again for methamphetamine.

Charges

3. Mr Quek faced a total of 14 charges. He pleaded guilty to three charges:

• (a) DAC 916058 of 2023 – possession for the purpose of trafficking, 77 packets of crystalline substance weighing a total of not less than 131.08g, which was analysed and found to contain not less than 89.13g of methamphetamine, without any authorisation under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 (2020 Rev Ed) (“MDA”) or the MDA Regulations, an offence under section 5(1)(a) read with section 5(2) of the MDA punishable under section 33(1) of the MDA (“trafficking charge”);

• (b) DAC 922376 of 2024 – consumption of a specified drug, methamphetamine, an offence under section 8(b)(ii) MDA punishable under section 33(3A) of the MDA (“consumption charge”); and

• (c) DAC 922768 of 2024 – being armed with an instrument, namely one yellow knuckleduster which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, without lawful authority or purpose, an offence punishable under section 453(1)(a) of the Penal Code 1871 (“Penal Code”) (“offensive weapon charge”).

4. Mr Quek also consented to have another ten drug-related charges under the MDA and one charge under the Computer Misuse Act 1933 (“CMA”) to be taken into consideration for the purpose of sentence (“TIC”):

• (a) two charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled drug without authority, an offence under section 5(1) read with section 5(2) of the MDA and punishable under s 33(1) of the MDA, namely –

  • Committed on 3 October 2023

  • (i) 38 packets and four blocks containing a mixture of a total of not less than 234.72g of vegetable matter which was analysed and found to be cannabis, and

  • (ii) 25 paper rolls and 19 packets containing not less than 98.41g of fragmented vegetable matter which was analysed and found to contain tetrahydrocannabinol (a cannabinol derivative);

• (b) five charges of possession of a Class A controlled drug without authority, an offence under section 8(a) and punishable under s 33(1) of the MDA, namely,

  • Committed on 3 October 2023

  • (i) one packet of white crystalline substance weighing not less than 0.49g, which was analysed and found to contain not less than 0.35g of ketamine,

  • (ii) six packets weighing not less than 28.36g of mixture of vegetable matter which were analysed and found to be cannabis mixture,

  • (iii) 23 paper rolls weighing not less than 18.30g of fragmented vegetable matter which were analysed and found to contain tetrahydrocannabinol,

  • (iv) 18 packets weighing not less than 17.49g of crystalline substance which were analysed and found to contain not less than 11.99g of methamphetamine, and

  • (v) two green tablets weighing not less than 0.68g which were analysed individually and found to contain N, N-Dimethylpentylone or its 3-methylbutan-1-one isomer;

• (c) one charge of consumption of a specified drug, namely methamphetamine, without authority, on or before 3 October 2023, an offence under section 8(b)(ii) of the MDA punishable under section 33(3A) of the MDA;

• (d) two charges of possession of utensils intended for the consumption of Class A controlled drugs committed on 15 December 2022 and 3 October 2023 respectively, an offence under section 9 of the MDA and punishable under section 33(1) of the MDA; and

• (e) one charge of accessing the Facebook and Instagram account belonging to one Ashley Ang Hui Ling on multiple occasions without authorisation, committed between 15 December 2022 and 23 June 2023, an offence under section 3(1)(a) of the CMA.

Sentence imposed

5. At the plead guilty mention on 25 November 2025 (“the hearing”), after having considered the parties’ oral and written submissions, I sentenced Mr Quek to:

I ordered the sentence on the offensive weapon charge to run consecutively with the sentence on the trafficking charge. The sentence for the consumption charge was to run concurrently. The aggregate sentence imposed on Mr Quek was therefore seven years’ and 14 months’ imprisonment with seven strokes of the cane.

• (a) seven years’ and 11 months’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane on the trafficking charge;

• (b) one year’s imprisonment on the consumption charge; and

• (c) three months’ imprisonment on the offensive weapon charge.

6. Mr Quek appealed against his sentence on 5 December 2025. I now set out the reasons for my decision on sentence.

Facts

7. Mr Quek admitted to the Statement of Facts¹ without qualification.

Offensive weapon offence

8. On 15 December 2022, at or about 4 pm, acting on information received, a party of officers from CNB raided Mr Quek’s residence at Block 116 Lorong 2 Toa Payoh #xx-xxx, Singapore 310116.

9. Mr Quek was arrested on suspicion of having committed drug-related offences under the MDA. In the course of searching his residence, the CNB officers found and seized various controlled drugs and drug-taking paraphernalia.

10. At about 7.05 pm on the same day, a search of Mr Quek’s sling bag also led to the discovery and seizure of a yellow knuckleduster. Mr Quek admitted to owning the knuckleduster, which he claimed made him feel safer. At all times, Mr Quek did not have lawful authority nor a lawful purpose to arm himself with the knuckleduster.

Consumption offence

11. Following his arrest, Mr Quek was escorted to Police Cantonment Complex for further investigations. While at the CNB Enforcement ‘A’ office, Mr Quek provided two bottles of his urine samples which were marked and sealed in his presence. On 16 December 2022, his urine samples were sent to the Health Sciences Authority (“HSA”) for analysis.

12. On 23 December 2022, the HSA analysts issued certificates stating that on analysis, Mr Quek’s urine samples were found to contain methamphetamine and another drug. Investigations revealed that Mr Quek consumed methamphetamine on or before 15 December 2022. Mr Quek admitted to consuming methamphetamine on the day of his arrest on 15 December 2022. As such, Mr Quek’s urine samples were found to contain methamphetamine.

13. Mr Quek was not authorised under the MDA or the MDA Regulations to consume methamphetamine. On 17 December 2022, Mr Quek was released on bail by the CNB. One of the bail conditions was that he was not to commit any offence while he was on bail.

Trafficking offence

14. On 3 October 2023, at or about 1.07 pm, acting on information received, a party of CNB officers raided Mr Quek’s residence as he had previously failed to report for his bail. They found Mr Quek in his residence and arrested him on suspicion of having committed drug-related offences under the MDA.

15. Following Mr Quek’s arrest, the CNB officers searched his residence and various items were recovered, marked and sealed in tamper-proof bags. Among the items seized were a total of 77 packets of crystalline substance weighing not less than 131.08g that were subsequently sent to the HSA for analysis.

16. On 2 and 5 February 2024, the HSA issued multiple certificates stating that the crystalline substance in the 77 packets were analysed and found to contain not less than 89.13g of methamphetamine. Mr Quek admitted to having ownership and possession of these items. He also admitted that he knew that they contained methamphetamine and that he had possessed the drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

Prescribed punishments

17. For the trafficking charge, section 33(1) of the MDA prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and five strokes of the cane and a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane.

18. For the consumption charge, section 33(3A) of the MDA prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence of one year’s imprisonment and a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment and/or fine of $20,000.

19. For the offensive weapon charge, it is imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and/or fine by virtue of section 453(1)(a) of the Penal Code.

Antecedents

20. Mr Quek did not have drug-related antecedents. However, he was placed under drug supervision on 24...