|
IN POLICE CUSTODY: This man was picked up from his flat after a stack of paper coated with an unknown white powder was left at the Tanjong Pagar Neighbourhood Police Post on Monday. -- PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
|
|
|
A MAN was arrested on Monday after he allegedly left a stack of A4-size paper coated with an unknown white powder at a neighbourhood police post on the same day.
The incident led to a Singapore Civil Defence Force team being sent down to the police post to ensure there was no threat of contamination from any biological agents.
The man, in his 40s, and believed to be mentally unsound, was picked up by police from his home in a block near the Tanjong Pagar Neighbourhood Police Post where the paper had been left earlier.
Meanwhile, tests are being run on the white powder to find out what it is. The results are not yet known.
The officer at the Tanjong Pagar Neighbourhood Police Post, who was put through decontamination immediately on Monday, was discharged from hospital after going through a full medical check-up.
Police said that a man deposited the paper at the police post at about 4.30pm and then left the station in Block 144, Jalan Bukit Merah, in a hurry.
When the police officer noticed the powdery substance on the paper, he called the SCDF, which arrived with a Hazmat - or hazardous materials - response team, an ambulance and a fire engine.
Operations by these emergency vehicles lasted two hours on Monday and attracted a crowd of curious onlookers. Residents said that, at one point, four officers from the Hazmat team were seen carrying out a plastic bag of items.
Some thought it was a fire drill, while others recognised the Hazmat response team and its hardware.
Most were unconcerned.
A 60-year-old retiree and resident of Block 143, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said: 'If there was a bomb involved, they would have evacuated us from our homes already, so we were not worried.'
|
