56-year-old Belgian Willy Frida D Burm, a Singapore PR, was sentenced to 4 weeks imprisonment on 13 December after pleading guilty to one count of using criminal force to deter a public servant from his duty, and another count for insulting a public servant, with 3 other charges being considered for his sentencing.

What happened?

In January 2020, Burm had drunk some wine at a tapas bar in VivoCity before going to Wala Wala Cafe Bar to drink beer.

At about 6pm, Burm went over to another customer’s table and grabbed the man’s laptop, before using the laptop to hit the table thrice.

A bouncer then stepped in to intervene but Burm refused to let go of the laptop and left the bar with the laptop in hand.

The police were then alerted to the incident, and police officers approached Burm after he left Wala to ask him to hand over the laptop.

Burm then held the laptop over his head and threatened to drop it on the ground, which he eventually did, damaging the laptop in the process.

When the police tried to get him into a police car after arresting him, Burm headbutted one of the police officers and used vulgarities on them.

23-year-old Travis Ow Jin Yuan, a former employee of My Digital Lock, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for criminal breach of trust and other offences including voluntarily causing hurt.

He had cheated customers of My Digital Lock into transferring $24,569 to him via bank transfer and cash, according to The Straits Times.

It was previously reported that he had duped a female customer back into thinking that she was making payment to My Digital Lock, and she transferred $6,153 to an account that Ow provided.

She had thought that she was making payment for a digital lock, a bed frame, a mattress and pillows.

The founder of the firm, Ronn Teo, said that Ow had given his own PayNow account to the customers, changing his account name to My Digital Lock Pte Ltd.

he then used the money that he got from customers to pay for his own expenses.

At least one My Digital Lock customer then made a police report in March, alleging that Ow had misappropriated customers’ money and he was then arrested on 1 April.

His other offences include voluntarily causing hurt to 4 people in 2019 and being a member of an unlawful society.

SINGAPORE ACCREDITS BRUNEI AS NEW SOURCE FOR HEN SHELL EGGS

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has accredited Brunei Darussalam (“Brunei”) as a new source to export hen shell eggs to Singapore. This was announced by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu during her visit to Golden Chick Livestock Farm Sdn Bhd in Brunei on 13 December 2022. Golden Chick Livestock Farm is the first Bruneian farm to export eggs to Singapore. This brings the number of countries and regions accredited to export hen shell eggs to Singapore to 17, up from 12 in 2019.

Food Cooperation between Singapore and Brunei

2 Minister Fu is on an official visit to Brunei from 13 to 15 December 2022 to discuss and strengthen agri-food, environmental, water resource management, and climate change cooperation between the two countries.

3 Singapore and Brunei share long-standing and close bilateral trade relations. The signing of various Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) in recent years underscores both countries’ commitment in deepening collaboration in food security. These include the MOU to enhance collaboration in agrifood and agro-technology in February 2021, as well as the MOU on strengthening trade and investment in food and medical products in August 2022. The accreditation of Brunei as a new country source for eggs is another step towards augmenting food cooperation between both countries, as Brunei looks to produce eggs for export while Singapore diversifies its egg import sources further.

Strengthening Singapore’s Egg Supply Resilience

4 Eggs imported into Singapore must come from accredited sources that meet SFA’s strict food safety standards and animal health standards. Refer to Annex A for more information about SFA’s accreditation process.

5 Currently, egg imports account for approximately 70 per cent of our egg supply. Efforts to diversify the nation’s egg supply over the past three years have helped us to withstand supply disruptions arising from unexpected events due to disease issues and geopolitical tensions and ensured a stable supply of eggs in Singapore. For example, in 2021, imported eggs from sources such as Thailand, Australia, Spain and Poland contributed to some 18 per cent of Singapore’s egg supply, up from 2 per cent in 2019. SFA will continue to actively accredit new sources, work closely with the industry to diversify their supplies, and strengthen their resiliency including through Business Continuity Planning.

6 Local egg production currently contributes to about 30 per cent of our total egg consumption and complements efforts on import source diversification. The upcoming development of the fourth egg farm in Singapore with a state-of-the-art, productive and sustainable egg facility will further strengthen the resilience of our local egg supply. When fully operational, our local egg farms will meet about 50 per cent of Singapore’s
egg demand and contribute towards Singapore’s 30-by-30 goal to build the agri-food industry’s capability and capacity to sustainably produce 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030. Refer to Annex B on Singapore’s overall strategy to safeguard our food supply.

Issued by SFA
13 December 2022

MAN ARRESTED FOR LOANSHARK HARASSMENT WITHIN EIGHT HOURS

The Police have arrested a 36-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a loanshark harassment case.

On 9 December 2022 at about 3.20pm, the Police were alerted to a case of loanshark harassment along Pasir Ris Street 21 where the doors of two residential units were splashed with red paint and debtor’s notes were left at the gates.

Through follow-up investigations and with the aid of images from Police and CCTV cameras, officers from Bedok Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him within the same day. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is allegedly involved in six other cases of loanshark harassment islandwide.

The man will be charged in court on 10 December 2022 under the Moneylenders Act 2008. For first-time offenders, the offence of loanshark harassment carries a fine of between $5,000 and $50,000, with mandatory imprisonment of up to five years, and mandatory caning of up to six strokes.

The Police have zero tolerance against loanshark harassment activities. Those who deliberately vandalise properties, cause annoyance or disrupt public safety, peace and security, will be dealt with firmly in accordance with the law.

Members of the public are advised to stay away from loansharks and not to work with or assist them in any way. The public can call the Police at ‘999’ or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in loansharking activities.

Singapore actor Desmond Tan shared on Instagram that he was robbed while he was on a train in Italy, according to CNA.

In an Instagram story, Tan said that “My backpack just got stolen from me in a train in Italy. Just want to send a reminder to folks who are travelling during this period to be extremely careful.”

He added, “lost my backpack with all my cash for my trip and my laptop. Many other stuff are lost but those are easier to replace, I guess?”

He then appealed to netizens for help, asking them for advice on what to do.

He said in another Instagram story: “For folks who had similar experience, could you share with me what to do when I make a police report and what else should I do now?”

On his Instagram profile, he also posted some photos of himself enjoying the sights of the Milan Cathedral, hours before he got robbed.

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A post shared by DESMOND TAN 陈泂江 (@thedesmondtan)