SINGAPORE - Graffiti on the exterior of a train was discovered at Bishan depot early Saturday morning, before it was put into service, the Land Transport Authority has revealed. The incident was reported to the police and the LTA said it takes a serious view of the incident.

This is believed to the fourth instance of vandalism which SMRT has encountered in four years. The first case was in May 2010, when two vandals cut through the fence of SMRT's Changi depot and spray-painted graffiti on one side of a train. One of them, Swiss national Oliver Fricker, was given seven months' jail and three strokes of the cane, while his accomplice, Briton Lloyd Dane Alexander, remains at large.

In August 2011, a hole was cut in the fence at the Bishan depot, and the words "Jet Setter's" were spray-painted on one of the trains.