Shot fired by police officer in raid along Balestier Road; suspect in stable condition

SINGAPORE — A raid at a Balestier Road house that was conducted to investigate a series of scams led to an officer firing a shot at a suspect, the police said on Thursday (Nov 5).

The suspect, who was shot as he was trying to snatch the officer’s revolver, was wounded at his abdomen. Paramedics attended to him before he was taken to the hospital while conscious.

He is now in a stable condition, the police said in a statement.

The incident happened after 1am on Thursday morning, when three police officers raided a residential unit along Balestier Road to apprehend suspects involved in a series of cheating cases.

A total of four suspects were in the unit when three officers entered at 1am.

While inside the unit, a 36-year-old male suspect referred to as “B1” suddenly lunged at one of the officers and attacked him repeatedly, causing the officer to fall on the floor and bleed from his face.

A second officer immediately warned B1 to stop his assault but this was to “no avail”, the police said.

Another suspect, B2, a 22-year-old man, was then seen approaching the first officer, and the second officer assessed that he could join B1 in the attack.

The second officer immediately drew his revolver out of concern for the safety of his partner, warning B1 to stop the assault.

B1 did not comply with his verbal warning and hit the first officer, who was on the floor.

B1 then suddenly tried to snatch the revolver from the second officer.

“During the brawl, for his own safety and to prevent B1 from snatching his revolver, the second officer discharged one round from the revolver at B1,” the police said.

But this did not immediately stop B1 from trying to snatch the revolver and the struggle continued.

Both B1 and B2 were subdued by backup officers who arrived at the unit later.

The first officer suffered injuries on his face and arm, while the second officer sustained injuries to his hands and lips.

Both B1 and B2 were arrested for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty, cheating and suspected drug consumption, on top of being wanted for cheating offences.

During a media briefing on Thursday, the commander of Tanglin police division, Assistant Commissioner Cheong Chee Ming, said: “Police officers work in dynamic environments. There are many unknowns out there and the risks our officers face on a daily basis are very real. This incident is one of such.

“Our officers have to be nimble and react to situations as they develop.” 

THE CHEATING OFFENCES

The two other people who were in the Balestier unit were also arrested for their suspected involvement in the series of cheating cases that the officers were investigating.

They were a 33-year-old woman known as B3, who is B1's girlfriend, and a 23-year-old woman known as B4, who is B2’s girlfriend.

B3 and B4 were arrested for cheating and suspected drug consumption. B3 is also wanted for other cheating offences and failure to attend court.

Three others were also arrested in separate raids related to the series of cheating cases: An 18-year-old male, an 18-year-old female and a 32-year-old man.

Through a series of syndicated scams, the seven suspects allegedly made use of victims’ particulars to apply for and buy new mobile phones and phone lines from a telco.

They would then make the initial payment using fraudulently obtained credit card details and after receiving the brand new handsets, would sell them for cash.

The telco purportedly incurred a loss of about S$43,000 from the phone sales, and the seven victims whose particulars were misused were also charged for the mobile phone subscriptions.

The police seized from the Balestier Road unit about S$20,000 in suspected criminal proceeds, as well as drugs and various drug paraphernalia.

They also seized 11 handsets, one laptop and one signature pad across two operations on Tuesday.

Police investigations are ongoing.