Jurong Bird Park will be ceasing their operations after 52 years and will close after 3 January 2023.

They will be having a series of activities before their last day in January next year, after which they will be relocating to Mandai.

Mandai Wildlife Group said that Jurong Bird Park will also be renamed Bird Paradise after their relocation, and they will be housing one of the biggest numbers of birds and threatened avian species under the care of mankind.

Was the largest bird park in Asia

Jurong Bird Park was first opened back on 3 January 1971 and became the largest bird park in Asia, boasting more than 5,000 birds across 400 species.

It was built at a cost of $3.5 million at the time.

It was previously announced back in 2014 that as part of efforts to transform the Mandai area into a mega nature attraction, Jurong Bird Park will be relocated to where the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and River Wonders are located.

A new park named Rainforest Wild will also be built at the new Bird Paradise, which will provide exploration experiences within a rainforest setting.

The new park will also house a new facility for the treatment and rehabilitation of animals that are rescued.

A new 1,000-seater amphitheatre will also be built at the Night Safari, and several areas at the existing parks in Mandai will be revamped, such as the Kidzworld at the Singapore Zoo.

A dead body of a 24-year-old man was found at East Coast Park on the morning of 27 August, with the deceased believed to have drowned in the sea.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that they received a call at about 7am on Saturday for a water rescue at 920 East Coast Park, near the Carpark C1.

The address belongs to a recreational area called Parkland Green, where there is an open lawn near the East Coast Park White Jetty.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that a body was seen floating in the water when their officers arrived at the scene, and it was then retrieved from the shoreline by rescuers.

The man was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.

The police said that at the moment the do not suspect any foul play and that the incident was a case of suspected drowning.

At the time of writing, police investigations are ongoing.

The Police have arrested a 56-year-old woman for her suspected involvement in a series of rental scams.

Between March and April 2022, the Police received several reports from victims who had responded to listings on Carousell purporting to offer units for rental at different parts of the island. After viewing the unit in person, victims were asked to pay a deposit to the woman to secure the rental. The woman purportedly became uncontactable after the deposits were paid.

Through follow-up investigations and with the aid of images from Police cameras, officers from Woodlands Police Division established the identity of the woman and arrested her on 26 August 2022. Preliminary investigations revealed that she is believed to be involved in at least 20 similar cases of rental scams with losses amounting to more than $35,000.

The woman will be charged in court on 27 August 2022 with the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871. The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.

The Police would also like to remind members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures to avoid falling prey to rental scams:

1. Ensure that the person you deal with is a rightful owner of the unit or an accredited real estate agent by verifying their details and contact number with the agency; and
   
2. Ask to visit the unit and verify with the owner if the rental offer exists and is genuine.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
26 August 2022 @ 7:30 PM

25-year-old Shazila Akbar Bacha was sentenced to 3 weeks imprisonment on 29 August after pleading guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt, with one other similar charge being considered during her sentencing.

She had scalded her ex-boyfriend, who suffers from type-1 Diabetes, with hot water during an argument, resulting in the victim suffering 1st-degree burns.

What happened?

Shazila and her ex-boyfriend were visiting their mutual friend separately and encountered each other in the corridor outside their friend’s home.

They then got into an argument at the staircase landing and Shazila then slapped her ex-boyfriend in the face.

The two of them then entered their friend’s apartment where they got into another argument, and Shazila asked him why he was still there after she slapped him.

The victim then commented that Shazila couldn’t take care of her son, which upset the former, who took a plastic cup to the kitchen and filled it about a quarter full of hot water.

She then challenged the victim to repeat what he said earlier about her ability to take care of her son, and the victim then did so.

Shazila then splashed the hot water on his chest and threw the cup onto the floor, burning him.

The victim is also suffering from Type 1 diabetes, which makes him more vulnerable to serious burn injuries and scarring.

He felt pain in the area where he was scalded and called the police for help, before visiting a clinic the next day where he was confirmed to have suffered first-degree burns below his collarbone.

He was then given 3 days of medical leave and was prescribed antibiotics and pain relief medication.

The Police have arrested a 58-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of China Officials Impersonation Scam (“COIS”).

On 23 August 2022, the Police received a report that a 24-year-old man had allegedly been kidnapped. Prior to the report, the parents of the victim, who were based in China, received a video of the victim and ransom demands from an unknown person in China. Pursuant to the report, officers from Clementi Police Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive searches and investigations to locate the 24-year-old man who was eventually found to be safe and sound in the vicinity of Geylang Road within five hours of police report.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had received an unsolicited call from a scammer who claimed to be an officer from the Ministry of Health in Singapore about a month ago.

The victim’s phone call was later redirected to a scammer purportedly claiming to be a police officer from China.

The scammer alleged that the victim’s particulars were used to open a bank account involved in money laundering activities in China and later deceived the victim into transferring more than $200,000 as “bail money” to bank accounts provided by the scammer.

Acting on the scammer’s instructions, the victim recorded a video of himself in order to assist in the purported investigations.

Without the victim’s knowledge, the scammer later sent the video to the victim’s parents in China and demanded a ransom to be paid for his release.

Preliminary investigations also revealed that the 58-year-old man had acted on the scammer’s instructions to book hotel rooms for the victim and hand a mobile phone with SIM card to the victim for the victim’s communication with the scammer. Police investigations are ongoing.

Those found guilty for the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871 face an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine. Those found guilty for the offence of money laundering under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992, also face a penalty of an imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $500,000, or both.

The Police take a serious view against any person who may be involved in scams, whether knowingly or unwittingly, and they would be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.

The Police would like to highlight that the China Police, INTERPOL and other overseas law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction to conduct operations in Singapore, arrest anyone or ask members of the public to help with any form of investigations without the approval of the Singapore Government.

The Police would also like to advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties, especially those with the “+” prefix which originate overseas:

• Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords;
  
• For foreigners receiving calls from persons claiming to be from Police in your home country, call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller;
  
• Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on the website or to callers over the phone.  Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals;
  
• Do not make any funds transfer if the caller is of dubious identity;
  
• Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment; and
  
• If in doubt, always hang up the call and check with the Singapore Police Force.

If you have any information related to such crime, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial ‘999’ for urgent Police assistance. To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. Do share this advisory with your family and friends to prevent them from being the next scam victim.

42-year-old Goh Chyi Chen, pleaded guilty to one count of forgery, with another count of attempting to cheat the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) being considered during her sentencing.

She was sentenced to 5 weeks imprisonment on 29 August for forging a retrenchment letter to apply for the Covid-19 Support Grant, which provided cash grants of up to $800 for 3 months.

Goh worked as a senior retail executive with Rigel Telecom, where she was fired in May 2020 for poor performance at work, and the reasons for her retrenchment (which was stated in a letter issued by the company) were not related to the pandemic.

What happened?

Goh submitted an online application for the grant on 1 October 2020, attaching a forged retrenchment letter to her application.

She edited the contents of the letter and deleted all the reasons for her termination, stating instead that she was retrenched due to the pandemic.

An MSF officer contacted her former company on 12 October to verify the contents of the letter and found out that the letter was not issued by the company.

The officer then contacted Goh, who maintained her claim that she was retrenched due to the pandemic – he application was eventually rejected.

The Police would like to alert members of the public to a persistent trend observed in relation to a scam variant, which involves scammers contacting victims through phone calls, pretending to be their friends, and thereafter asking for financial assistance. Since January 2022, at least 1,098 victims have fallen prey, with total losses amounting to at least $4.5million.

In these cases, the victims received phone calls from unknown numbers with the “+” prefix. Upon answering these calls, the callers would not identify themselves and instead ask the victims to guess his identity with questions such as: “Guess who am I?” or “You can’t remember me?”. Thinking that they were acquainted, the victim would answer with the name of a friend who they thought most resembled the caller’s voice. The caller would then assume the identity of the said friend and would claim to have lost their mobile phone or changed their contact number. They would then ask the victim to update his number in his contact list. A few days later, the caller would contact the victim and ask for a loan to help them tide over their financial difficulties or trouble with the law. Victims would be provided with a local bank account or phone numbers to transfer money to. Victims would only discover that they had been scammed after contacting their actual friends whom the scammers had impersonated.

The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:

• Beware of calls with the “+” prefix, especially if you are not expecting an international call;
  
• Beware of unusual requests received from phone calls or messages, even if they appear to be from your family or friends; and
  
• Verify whether the request is legitimate by checking with your family and friends through alternative means such as physical meet-ups, video calls or email other than using the contact details on your phone.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
29 August 2022 @ 1:00 PM