Checkpoint breach: Barrier ‘did not work optimally’

SINGAPORE — A security barrier was raised to stop him from entering Singapore, but despite it puncturing two of his tyres, the 64-year-old managed to drive his gold-coloured Singapore-registered Mercedes Benz through Woodlands Checkpoint and avoid arrest for about five hours.

As it turned out, preliminary investigations show that the “cat claw” barrier — which is 300mm in height at maximum deployment — “did not work optimally” when the car ran over it on Saturday, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

The incident — the second checkpoint breach in less than three months — was the first time the security barrier had failed to stop someone from driving through, leading Members of Parliament (MPs) to question whether the checkpoints’ security infrastructure should be enhanced.

In a statement yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean said the ICA Commissioner has been directed to implement measures to better secure Singapore’s checkpoints “as soon as possible”.

The incident on Saturday reinforced the findings of the review after the January incident — that the alarm and barrier systems at the checkpoints are “inadequate” and response protocols and training of officers at the checkpoint need to be improved “sharply”, Mr Teo said.

The Malaysia national, who is also a Singapore Permanent Resident, had arrived at the checkpoint at 3.53pm on Saturday, and cleared the immigration channel. However, after an officer asked to inspect his spare tyre compartment, the man “made some excuse … got back into the car and drove off”, said ICA Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Aw Kum Cheong at a media briefing yesterday morning.

Despite the activation of an alarm and security barrier — as well as the efforts of an Auxiliary Police Officer who was injured while he attempted to stop the vehicle — the man managed to drive over the barrier and left the checkpoint at about 4.05pm.

An alert was issued to all police resources as well as to taxis to look out for the vehicle and driver. The police also chased leads across the island and even managed to contact the man on his mobile phone. He was arrested at 9.15pm and will be charged in court today.

In the process, four other men — two Malaysians and two Singaporeans — believed to be his associates were also brought in to assist in investigations. The authorities also said that a package suspected to contain drugs had been recovered and sent for tests, but declined to reveal where the package was found.

Mr Aw said security had been heightened since the January incident, in which a Malaysian teacher had slipped through the checkpoint without clearing immigration and evaded capture for three days.

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

A video of what is said to be footage taken from security cameras at the checkpoint capturing the incident has been circulating online. Asked whether the video was authentic, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police and Director of Operations Lau Peet Meng said that investigations are ongoing and that it was “premature to comment”.

While “serious errors of judgment” contributed to January’s incident, MPs TODAY spoke to said Saturday’s incident highlighted physical flaws in the checkpoints’ infrastructure, with Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Alvin Yeo suggesting that a second barrier could be installed.

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar Nair, Chairman for the Government Parliamentary Committee for Law and Home Affairs, concurred. “You can have a situation whereby the car is loaded with ordnance and it just runs through the barrier, and by the time you recover the vehicle, it may well be too late. From the Causeway to any part of Singapore (will take) just an hour at most,” he told Channel NewsAsia.