Control of drag force on a circular cylinder using multiple detached splitter plates is numerically studied for laminar flow Two splitter plates with the same length as the cylinder diameter (d) are placed horizontally in the upstream of the cylinder and in the near-wake region, respectively. Their positions are described by the gap ratios (G$_1$/d, G$_2$/d), where G$_1$ represents the gap between the cylinder stagnation point and the rear edge of the upstream splitter plate, and G$_2$ represents the gap between the cylinder base point and the leading edge of the rear splitter plate. The drag varies with the two gap ratios; it has the minimum value at a certain set of gap ratios for each Reynolds number The upstream splitter plate decreases the stagnation pressure, while the rear splitter plate increases the base pressure by suppressing vortex shedding. This combined effect causes a significant drag reduction on the cylinder Particularly, the drag sharply increases past an optimum G$_2$/d; this seems to be related to a sudden change in bubble size in the wake region.