2 teenagers arrested after pranking Yishun shop with toy gun, laughing when cashier shouted

SINGAPORE — Two 16-year-old boys were arrested on suspected criminal intimidation after using a toy gun to scare a cashier at a retail outlet in Yishun.

The police said on Tuesday (April 18) that they received a call for assistance at 7.04am on Monday at a retail outlet along Yishun Street 22.

One of the teenagers allegedly approached the cashier counter to make payment for an item.

"After the staff member had scanned the item, he took out a toy gun and pointed it at the staff," the police said. The other teenager was recording the scene as it happened.

Upon hearing the worker shouting, they started laughing and revealed that the gun was fake.

The police said: “Through ground enquiries and with the aid of closed-circuit television, officers from Woodlands Police Division established the identities of the teenagers involved and arrested them within three hours of the report.”

Early investigations revealed that they had purportedly hatched a plan to scare the staff member with the toy gun for fun, police added.

The toy gun, the attire of both teenagers and a mobile phone used to record the prank were recovered and seized by the police as case exhibits.

Threatening another person with any injury, with intent to cause alarm to that person, amounts to an offence of criminal intimidation, which is punishable with a jail term of up to 10 years or a fine, or both, the police said.

“The police have zero tolerance towards such acts that cause unnecessarily alarm towards the general public.”