Jail again for repeat offender over bribe to prison officer who helped smuggle in pills
Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Feb 2, 2026
A repeat offender, who was earlier released from prison, is expected to return behind bars on Feb 19 to begin a fresh sentence after he worked with an inmate to give a bribe of $400 to a then prison officer.
Wilson Ang had intentionally aided Mohamad Yusof Kasim, also known as "Kimo", to give the money to Mohammad Asri Abd Rahim who smuggled in gabapentin pills – a type of painkiller – into Changi Prison.
Ang, 38, who wanted the medication for his slipped disc, was sentenced to eight weeks' jail on Feb 2 after he pleaded guilty to a corruption charge.
Asri, then 39, and Yusof, then 50, were each sentenced to 10 months' jail in October 2025.
Court documents stated that Asri was a prison officer when he started bringing in gabapentin pills into his then workplace in 2021.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En said that such pills could be abused and that Asri had brought them in for some inmates known as correctional unit attendants (CUAs), to reward them for helping him manage their fellow inmates.
Yusof was one of the CUAs, the court heard.
The DPP added: "(Asri) would pass the slab of... pills to Kimo for him to distribute to the other CUAs. He did not receive any money in return.
"Around August 2021, Asri entered into an arrangement with Kimo whereby he would help Kimo smuggle contraband items such as lewd photographs and medication through security at Changi Prison in exchange for monetary reward."
Ang started serving his earlier jail sentence in September 2021 over an undisclosed offence and got to know Yusof the following month.
The two men shared the same cell from February 2022 onwards, and Ang also became a CUA on Yusof's recommendation.
Ang later found out that Asri was smuggling lewd photographs and medication such as gabapentin into Changi Prison
He then asked Yusof to obtain the medication from Asri, after he failed to obtain it from doctors at the prison or from his own sources.
Ang later made arrangements for his brother to transfer $4,000 to Yusof.
In May 2022, Asri smuggled at least 50 gabapentin pills into Changi Prison, and five tablets were passed to Ang through another inmate identified as Yang Lijie.
Yusof handed Asri $400 on June 9 that year, and investigations revealed that this amount came from funds which Ang had earlier provided to Yusof.
DPP Tay told the court: "Around mid- to end-June 2022, Asri told Kimo that he wanted to stop the arrangement.
"However, before the duo could cease their arrangement, SPS (Singapore Prison Service) officers conducted a raid on the cell that Kimo was residing in on suspicion that Kimo was in possession of contraband items."
Prohibited items, including gabapentin pills, were found in the cell.
SPS investigations revealed that Asri had smuggled in the pills earlier, said the prosecutor.
Court documents did not disclose how the authorities found out about Ang's offence, but he was later charged in court in 2025.
His bail was set at $10,000 on Feb 2, and he was ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on Feb 19 to begin serving his latest sentence.
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