Man who set off flare at hawker centre fined S$4,500

SINGAPORE —While clearing the storeroom of his family’s medical hall, 50-year-old plumber Aw Chong Loong found a dusty cylindrical object on a shelf.

The object turned out to be a parachute signal flare used in marine distress situations and, as he fiddled with it, the flare was fired at Kebun Baru Food Centre.

It caused a commotion on Sept 26 last year and prompted the police to mount a 30-hour operation with 65 officers deployed to track down the culprit.

On Thursday (Dec 14), Aw was fined S$4,500 for committing a negligent act likely to cause harm.

Court documents stated that for the past 30 years, Aw had a habit of picking up discarded items. He would either throw items that were of no use away or keep them in the storeroom of his family’s medical hall at Blk 226C Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

Aw could not recall where he had picked up the parachute signal flare, which was orange with red caps on both ends.

Without reading the information pasted on the object, he opened one of its caps. A grey disc fell out and he later threw it in a nearby dustbin.

After opening the other cap, he saw a rectangular button and a pin that was attached to a short nylon string.

Out of curiosity, Aw – who was facing the hawker centre – pulled the string and pin while pressing the rectangular button. Immediately, there was a whizzing sound and white smoke was emitted. Alarmed, he went back into the shop and threw the object back onto the shelf.

Aw did not know if anything had shot out due to the cloud of smoke, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang.

But he was not the only one alarmed.

The flare landed at a fruit stall at the hawker centre. Stall owner Tan Yong Joo said he heard a “loud boom” and saw a “huge ball of fire about the height of his knee”. There were some sparks and smoke emitted near the refrigerator at the front of his stall.

Mr Tan then used a long metal rod with a hook to remove the ball of fire from his stall.

It landed on a table at the hawker centre and was later put out by a passerby using a fire extinguisher.

Realising the commotion was due to the flare he had fired, Aw decided to throw the object into a dustbin at a nearby block of flats.

When approached by a police officer, Aw denied witnessing anything.

According to DPP Yang, Aw did not want to admit that he had set off the flare as there were “many reporters and acquaintances around and he did not want to be known as the person who set the object off… resulting in a huge commotion”.

“He did not want people to see him being arrested,” added Mr Yang.

The next day, Aw told his wife that he wanted to surrender but before he could turn himself in, he received a call from a Criminal Investigation Department officer and admitted to his actions.

He could have been jailed for up to a year and fined up to S$5,000.