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In October 1951, 1,800 pounds of opium worth S$400,000 (US$133,330) was stolen by a gang of robbers, which included three police detectives. Furthermore, the Anti-Corruption
Branch (ACB) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) within the Singapore Police Force (SPF), which was responsible for combating corruption, found that some senior police officers were involved with both the robbers and importers of the opium. The ACB’s investigations resulted in the dismissal of a senior officer and the retirement of another.
However, the British colonial government was dissatisfied with the outcome of the ACB’s investigation and formed a special team outside the SPF to investigate the opium hijacking scandal (Tan, 1999: 59). As the special team uncovered evidence of widespread police corruption, the British colonial government realized the importance of establishing an independent anti-corruption agency (ACA) outside the SPF. Accordingly, the ACB was replaced by the CPIB in October 1952, making the CPIB the first ACA to be created in Asia (Quah, 2003a: 114).
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