Enticed by the stories of massive profits from drug trafficking, a professional counsellor broke bad and got into the lurid business himself.
33-year-old Gopal Mahey went over to the dark side, taking drugs and finding an accomplice to sell narcotics together. All while counselling drug abusers and rehabilitating them in jail.
The Straits Times reported that the former counsellor has since been sentenced to eight years in jail and seven strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and drug consumption.
It was in 2009 that Gopal joined the Centre for Psychotherapy, which in turn was contracted by the Singapore Prison Service to counsel inmates with drug problems. Six years later, he met 37-year-old See Hui Chuan, a patient he counselled for personal problems.
The two would smoke meth together, and Gopal later found out that See had contacts he used to sell drugs to. Seeing it as an “investment opportunity”, Gopal loaned $5,000 to See to support his drug trafficking activities.
In return, his investment got $300 and five slabs of Erimin-5 per month, as well as 1.25g of meth per week.
What eventually brought Gopal down was a careless mistake. On Dec 20, 2013, he accidentally dropped a pouch while leaving Changi Prison — a pouch that contained an unknown pill and a packet with crystalline substance.
CCTV footage revealed that it was the counsellor himself who dropped the pouch, and he was caught by the Central Narcotics Bureau three days later. His urine tested positive for meth.
As for See, he was arrested later that day and dealt with as well.
“Regrettably, the person whom he sought to help fight the battle against drugs… would be the very person whom he led astray,” said District Judge May Mesenas in regards to Gopal and his accomplice.
