Six men, aged between 21 and 43-years-old, were arrested in an enforcement operation by the Singapore Customs on 13 April.
The six men consisted of five Chinese nationals and a Malaysian, one of whom was apparently helping his colleagues buy the contraband cigarettes by collating and fulfilling their orders.
The enforcement operation targeted buyers of the duty-unpaid cigarettes from online peddlers.
A total of 40 cartons, 85 packets and 116 sticks (9.8kg) of contraband cigarettes were seized.
The total duty and GST evaded was about $4,500.
Three of the six men have been charged while investigations are still going on for the rest.
Additionally, another 11 men were fined between $500 to $5,000; they consisted of six Chinese nationals and five Malaysians.
The buyers of the contraband cigarettes were tracked down via the digital footprint of the peddlers.
A video emerged online showing a young punk inside what appears to be a toilet stall.
He could be seen vaping through his nose and blowing the smoke out of his mouth, seemingly in a bid to “clear a blocked nose”.
Under section 16(2A) of the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act (TCASA), it is illegal to possess, purchase and use vaporisers in Singapore as of 1 February 2018.
Persons found guilty of this offence can be fined up to $2,000.
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Images and video source: @complaint.sg on Instagram
Rahaman Shahinor, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi working as a migrant worker, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of molestation and was sentenced to 20 months in jail and 3 strokes of the cane on 14 April.
He molested a 13-year-old girl at the Forest Canopy Boardwalk in One North, as well as a 30-year-old teaching support staff at the same location.
Rahaman was a construction worker working at the site for agri-business firm Wilmar International at One-North Link.
What happened?
On the evening of 28 January, Rahaman intentionally bumped into the 13-year-old girl while she was walking towards the One-North MRT from her school.
The girl then fell down and Rahaman groped her chest over her shirt.
The girl then tried to run back to her school but her path was blocked by Rahaman, who then proceeded to grope her chest again and touched her stomach.
The girl then tried to turn around and run towards the MRT station, Rahaman then grabbed her bag from behind.
He then tried to pull her blouse upwards.
The girl shouted at him to stop but he didn’t and continued to persistently pull the collar of her blouse.
The girl then tried to call her mother but Rahaman tried to grab her phone.
He failed to grab her phone and that was when he ran away.
Molester strikes again
The following day, at about 7.10am, Rahaman intercepted a 30-year-old teaching support staff member who worked at the same school that the first victim attended, and grabbed her chest over her dress.
The woman tried to detain him while she called the police but Rahaman escaped.
She lost sight of the perpetrator although she later spotted him walking down One North Crescent towards Fusionopolis, where she then recorded a video of him.
As fate would have it, the first victim’s mother would just so happen to be walking out of the school at that time.
The second victim then caught her attention and shouted to her while pointing at Rahaman: “That’s him! That’s him!”.
The school’s security officer and the first victim’s mother then tried to track Rahaman down but lost sight of him.
It was later revealed that he had taken the MRT from One-North station back to his Dormitory near Pioneer.
“I didn’t know Singapore law”
Rahaman, who wasn’t represented by a lawyer, repeatedly apologised for his actions throughout the court hearing, begging for the District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz to give him a lighter sentence because his parents are waiting for him in Bangladesh.
He said:
“Sorry. I wrong already. I mistake already. Next time, I never do. My father, mother cry for me. I no working. Many cry, (SIC)”
He then tried to defend himself, saying that he didn’t know about Singapore’s laws, to which the judge retorted by saying that it isn’t a defence to say that you didn’t know something was an offence.
The armed robber who robbed a shop called “OT Credit Pte Ltd” with a pistol, is Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, a 38-year-old Aetos auxiliary police officer (at the time of the offence).
Mahadi has been charged on 14 April, under the Armed Offences Act, with being in unlawful possession of arms or ammunition in the commission of a scheduled offence.
His accomplice, Nur Shana Muhammad, 34-years-old, was also charged on the same day for dishonestly receiving stolen property.
Shana has been remanded for a week at the Central Police Division where she is allowed to be brought out for investigation.
It has since been revealed that prior to the armed robbery, Mahadi had reported to work at Aetos HQ where he drew his firearm before being deployed.
He then changed out of his uniform and left the HQ with his firearm without being authorised to do so.
Mahadi then robbed the shop and reported back to Aetos HQ to change back into his uniform and take the company’s transport van to where he was originally supposed to be deployed.
An intriguing video of Spiderman emerged online, showing our friendly neighbourhood superhero running on the streets with a GoPro in hand.
Our general conjecture for his lack of swinging is that he ran out of web slingers and couldn’t afford an air ticket ever since Tony Stark died, so he’s running to Wakanda instead to meet up with Steve Rogers to fight Thanos.
A video emerged online showing a drunk girl with her friend (who is presumably drunk as well), harassing a grab driver inside his car.
She could be seen giggling hysterically and crying intermittently throughout the video, as she hit the back of his seat repeatedly.
Snippets of the conversation includes calling the driver a “liar”, asking him “why all guys like to lie to me? F***ing guys like to lie to me…” and “why are you going this way?”
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Image and video source: @sgfollowsall on Telegram and Instagram
Chew Lye Beng, 58-years-old, was convicted last month for one charge of molesting a minor.
He was jailed 14 months and 3 weeks on 13 April, for molesting a 13-year-old boy while he was still working as a part-time taxi driver with Comfort DelGro.
The Secondary 1 boy was on his way home to change before going back to school for his CCA, and his friend accompanied him as the two flagged down Chew’s taxi at around 1.12pm.
Chew told the boy to sit in front, where they then chatted throughout the journey.
After reaching the destination, the boy paid Chew in cash, holding his wallet in one hand and the change in the other.
Chew then purportedly reached over and helped the boy unbuckle his seatbelt despite being told by the boy not to do so, it was then that Chew molested him twice.
All three alighted from the taxi and Chew asked the victim where is the toilet.
After Chew left for the toilet, the victim told his friend that he was molested.
The boy then went home to change and before he left his house, he took a penknife for self defence as he was worried Chew might still be around.
His mother saw him holding a penknife and questioned him, to which he revealed everything that happened.
