On July 31, 2008, at about 10.45 am, Abu Khalid Bin Md Jadi drove his car to Woodlands Checkpoint where he was asked whether he had three-quarter tank of fuel in his car's fuel tank, the 52-year-old Singaporean declared that his fuel tank was almost full.

After conducting a thorough check, a remote control switch was found hanging from the wiper lever of his car.

When asked, Abu Khalid claimed that the remote control was malfunctioned and could not give any reason for its purpose.

The Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) officer then activated the remote control and saw the fuel indicator dropped to 'E', indicating an empty fuel tank.

It was only after the officer saw this that Abu Khalid admit that the remote control was for the purpose of tampering his vehicle's fuel gauge reading.

The case was then referred to Singapore Customs for follow-up.

The car was inspected and it was confirmed that its fuel gauge had been tampered with and the amount of fuel in the fuel tank was less than one quarter full.

Abu Khalid admitted that he was aware of the three-quarter tank rule and had a fuel gauge tampering device fitted into his vehicle in August 2007 for RM150.

On August 5, 2008, Abu Khalid pleaded guilty to two charges - for not having the minimum amount of motor spirit in his vehicle's fuel tank when attempting to leave Singapore on July 31, 2008 and for giving false information to the officer inspecting his fuel gauge of his vehicle.

For the 1st charge, he was sentenced to $500 fine or in default one week's jail for not having the minimum amount of motor spirit in his vehicle's fuel tank when attempting to leave Singapore.

For the 2nd charge, he was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment for giving false information.

In the last two years, three persons had been charged in court for tampering with their car fuel gauges. All three were convicted and were sentenced to both fines and imprisonment.