Man who dashed through Woodlands identified

SINGAPORE — Four men have been brought in to assist the police with investigations in relation to the 64-year-old man who allegedly dashed through Woodlands Checkpoint at about 4pm yesterday (March 8).

The Malaysian national who is also a Singapore Permanent Resident “travels almost daily” between Malaysia and Singapore, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, Director Operations, Lau Peet Meng said at a joint media briefing conducted this morning by the Singapore Police Force and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

At 4.05pm yesterday, the man who was driving a Singapore-registered Mercedes Benz deliberately drove off while undergoing customs boot check, injuring an officer who tried to stop him from leaving. Although a security barrier was subsequently activated, he managed to crash his vehicle through the barrier and entered Singapore.

The ICA said today that it was the first time the barrier had failed.

The Mercedes Benz was found later at 8.30pm, while the Malaysian national was arrested at 9.15pm to assist in police investigations. However, authorities declined to comment where the car was found and where the man was arrested as investigations are ongoing.

The alarm was raised immediately, and all police resources on the ground were alerted.

Two of the men — both Malaysian — were brought in for police investigations at Woodlands Checkpoint before the 65-year-old was arrested, while the other two men — both Singaporeans — were brought in for police investigations shortly after the man was arrested.

The incident came less than two months after a Malaysian-registered car slipped past Woodlands Checkpoint on Jan 17.

When asked why it took the police five hours to arrest the suspect, Mr Lau said the police had to look into a couple of things such as establishing the facts about what happened, the identity of the man and even activating the Crime Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department.

The police had also sent an alert message out to all taxi drivers to help identify the vehicle. However, authorities declined to comment if any taxi drivers had help with the arrest of the man.

Authorities also said that a package suspected to be drugs was also found, however they refused declined to comment where it was found.

Two auxiliary police officers tried to stop the suspect, and one of the auxiliary police officers fell and suffered abrasions as a result.

Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Aw Kum Cheong of the ICA said that there has “already been heightened” security since the January incident.

“In a sense, this incident reflects that some steps taken due taken (then) do work. Alarms were raised more promptly …” he said.

“I don’t think we want to say it will be heightened, but we will definitely do a review of what has worked and what has not worked and take whatever steps we need to take to improve so the barrier will be one for sure,” he added.

When asked about whether a video which was allegedly leaked yesterday — showing the Mercedes Benz crashing the barrier to exit customs — was authentic, Mr Lau said that investigations are ongoing and it would be “premature to comment at the moment”.

Separately, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean said he has directed the Commissioner of the ICA to implement measures to better secure checkpoints as soon as possible.

Mr Teo said the incident which occurred yesterday “reinforces the findings of the review after the January dash-through: The alarm and barrier systems at the checkpoints are inadequate, and they need to be improved and strengthened considerably”.

He also said the response protocols and training of officers at the checkpoint need to be “improved sharply in parallel with the physical improvements”.

The subject will be charged in Court in the morning of 10 March 2014.

CORRECTION (8.40 pm, March 8 2014): An earlier version of this story reporterd that one Singaporean and one Malaysian had been brought in for questioning. The ICA clarified after the media briefing in the morning that it was instead two Malaysians who were brought in to assist in investigations. The suspect is also 64 years old, not 65. The article has been updated to reflect this.