S’porean Dickson Yeo, Who Was A Spy for China, Has Been Detained for 2 Years Under the ISA

Hoot, you are a spy! It’s all James Bond and black suits and sunglasses and fancy gadgets and excitement—

… That is, until you are unsuccessful in your mission and get detained by the Internal Security Department (ISD).

Not exactly the dream job many of us imagined when we were young.

S’porean Dickson Yeo, Who Was A Spy for China, Has Been Detained for 2 Years Under the ISA

Singaporean Dickson Yeo, who rose to fame (or rather infamy) last year for carrying out clandestine operations for China’s intelligence services last year, has been detained by the ISD for two years, The Straits Times reports.

The detention order was issued under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 29 January 2021, after he was repatriated to Singapore following 14 months of imprisonment in the US for espionage. 

Ouch, that’s a lot of jail time. And because Yeo is Singaporean, China has no obligations to help their own intelligence asset. Nicely played.

According to the ISD, “Yeo had worked for the intelligence apparatus of a foreign state and had carried out various taskings given to him by his foreign handlers in exchange for monetary gains,” and was “fully aware” that he was assisting the Chinese intelligence apparatus.

He was assigned to garner information on various security issues of interest to his foreign handlers, including those related to Singapore. To complete his task, he set up a consulting company in Singapore that was a front to his intelligence gathering, and attempted, but failed, to secure a government job.

Whichever HR officer rejected him deserves a raise.

The ISD further remarked that Yeo’s detention is necessary while investigations are ongoing to fully uncover the extent of his espionage.

Yeo was first recruited by the Chinese government while on an academic trip to Beijing, when he was a doctoral student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. 

He was paid to provide political reports on Southeast Asia and the United States, making multiple trips to meet Chinese agents and making connections with targets through social networking sites.

Notably, his fake consulting firm received more than 400 resumes, including those from American military and government staff handling sensitive information.

He was at his post as a visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington DC, a position well-suited for his assignments, when he was first questioned by US immigration. 

He booked a return flight the next day, but was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Oopsies.

Yeo maintained that he did not betray Singapore in his activities. 

In a statement, the ISD announces that “The Singapore Government takes a very serious view of anyone who enters into a clandestine relationship with a foreign government and engages in activities at the behest of the foreign power that is inimical to our national security and interests, including bilateral relations.”

Feature Image: Facebook (Dickson Yeo) / Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)