SINGAPORE – A total of 1,394 people are being investigated for criminal activities after a month-long islandwide blitz by law enforcement agencies ahead of the year-end festivities.
The suspects – 885 men and 509 women aged between 15 and 77 – are under probe for various offences, including providing sexual services at massage establishments, drug activities, illegal gambling and the sale of illegal sexual enhancement medicine.
Targeting entertainment districts like Little India, Boat Quay, Geylang and Chinatown, the police conducted checks on more than 6,700 people and arrested 523 during raids conducted between Nov 15 and Dec 18.
The police said on Dec 22 that more than 1,900 officers were deployed in over 630 raids.
The Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Health Sciences Authority, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Customs, Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Manpower, Housing Board and the Singapore Food Agency were also involved in the concerted effort.
In a series of raids in Little India, Boat Quay, Bugis and Chinatown between Nov 20 and Nov 25, a total of 146 women and 36 men were arrested for, among other things, illegal gambling, drug activity and contravention of the Women’s Charter.
Condoms were also seized from a shophouse in Little India, said the police.
Another operation on Dec 5 targeted vacant buildings in the Sungei Kadut industrial estate and led to the recovery of suspected controlled drugs, drug paraphernalia and knives.
The joint operation involved the police, ICA and JTC Corporation, and was part of a clampdown on criminal activities in empty buildings, said the police.
A raid at a migrant worker dormitory in Tuas targeted potential public order incidents, illegal immigration and customs-related offences, added the police.
A total of 531 sticks of contraband cigarettes, two e-vaporisers and a packet of chewing tobacco were seized from that operation, they said.
The police recorded a 35 per cent increase in the number of cases under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances Act and Offensive Weapons Act between January and October 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, said Senior Assistant Commissioner Gregory Tan, director of the operations department at the Singapore Police Force.
“The four-week anti-crime blitz is part of the police’s ongoing efforts to clamp down on crime and illegal activities, including those in possession of weapons that intend to do harm to others,” he said.
“By working closely with other law enforcement agencies, we want to send a strong message to criminals that law enforcement agencies will continue to be proactive in our enforcement and criminals will be investigated to the fullest extent of the law.”
