NParks officers got the fish farm manager to call Arshad for the combination number to the gate lock. But Arshad claimed he was out doing deliveries and driving and would message the combination to the manager when it was safe for him to do so.

The NParks officers then got the fish farm manager to cut the fence leading to the site with a wire cutter, and they saw Arshad’s car parked inside.

The officers found 69 live animals, including 42 leopard geckos, two California King snakes, two sugar gliders, three bearded dragons, an Irian Jaya blue tongued skink and South American horned frogs.

There were also animals that were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The officers then came to a locked sliding door at a room and knocked multiple times, but there was no response. When they eventually managed to open the door, they saw Arshad inside, lying down on a sofa.

Asked why he did not open the door, Arshad lied that he had been sleeping and did not hear the commotion. Another two animals were found in enclosures in the room.

The NParks officers then noticed a CCTV console in the room and asked Arshad to hand over the footage. Arshad claimed the system was spoilt.

The officers seized the 69 live animals, the CCTV console and Arshad’s mobile phone, which had a damaged screen.

EXTENT OF HIS LIES

Investigations uncovered the extent of Arshad’s lies – he had lied about driving when the fish farm manager contacted him. He was already at the site when NParks officers arrived.

He deliberately locked himself in the room and ignored the officers’ calls and knocks. He also lied that his phone was damaged from being run over by a car.

In truth, he had deliberately smashed it on a table in the locked room before NParks officers found him. He also lied about the condition of the CCTV system, which was fully functional.

Footage retrieved from the system came from four CCTV cameras installed by Arshad at the site.

The footage showed Arshad closing and locking the gate after the officers arrived, hiding dubia roaches which are used to feed reptiles and scooping out turtles into a smaller container.

Defence lawyer S S Dhillon said his client is married with a son, and had been running his aquarium business since 2015.

The main business dealt with ornamental fish, sales of equipment and related logistics supply, said Mr Dhillon.

He said his client was taken aback by the NParks officers’ sudden arrival and “flew into a state of panic”.

He had smashed his phone “in a state of frenzy as he was getting increasingly panicked from the phone calls that he was receiving”, said the lawyer.

Mr Dhillon said the terrapin and turtles found at the site had come from a customer who gave them to Arshad when Arshad delivered tanks to the customer.

Arshad had taken them “out of goodwill” to care for them, claimed the lawyer, asking for six weeks’ jail instead.

The prosecution said this was the largest number of illicit wildlife kept by an offender, but Mr Dhillon countered by saying there were only 17 such cases reported since 2001 so this “limits the weight” of the prosecution’s argument.

He added that there was no evidence of import, intended export or sale in his client’s case.

For each charge of intentionally keeping wildlife without approval, Arshad could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000, or both.