Man arrested for public nuisance after incident at Waterway Point bubble tea shop

SINGAPORE — A 38-year-old man was arrested for public nuisance after an incident at a bubble tea shop at Waterway Point mall in Punggol on Tuesday (April 21).

A video circulating online allegedly of the incident shows a man wearing a green GrabFood shirt shouting at employees of the Playmade outlet at Waterway Point. The man is seen approaching the shop counter before being pulled back by other people.

In response to TODAY's queries, the police said they received a call for help at Waterway Point at 9.39pm on Tuesday and a 38-year-old man was arrested for public nuisance.

Playmade wrote in a statement on Facebook that there had been an incident between its staff at Waterway Point and a delivery rider.

The bubble tea chain said that the outlet had received more than 150 orders for delivery in the last hour before closing, which came to about 600 cups. This was despite efforts to stop orders from coming through.

"This had brought immense pressure on both our team and delivery riders to complete within that short timeframe to closing," Playmade said.

Long queues had formed at bubble tea shops across Singapore on Tuesday evening after the authorities announced that standalone food-and-beverage outlets selling only beverages, packaged snacks, confectionery or desserts would have to close at least until May 4, as part of tougher circuit breaker measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Playmade said: "We sincerely apologise to all customers and riders who were, as a result, directly and indirectly affected by this incident." 

Police are investigating the incident.