3 teenagers arrested over spitting incident in Bugis mall
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Another three teenagers have been arrested in connection with a spitting incident.
The three teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly spitting over the railing in a Bugis shopping mall.
The police said in a statement yesterday they received a report that a male victim was on the ground floor of the shopping mall in Victoria Street when spittle from a higher floor landed on him.
Investigations showed that three boys spat over the railing from the fifth floor of the mall last Thursday, some time after 5pm. With the help of police cameras, officers from the Central Police Division established the identities of the suspects.
The teenagers are being investigated for being a public nuisance.
The police said the incident caused alarm and annoyance in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, since infections can spread indirectly through contaminated surfaces.
The arrests come in the wake of a number of other similar incidents also involving teenagers.
Last Thursday, two boys and one girl, aged between 17 and 19, were arrested over a suspected spitting incident in a shopping mall in central Singapore.
Last month, two teenage boys aged 12 and 17 were apprehended for allegedly spitting inside public lifts in Housing Board blocks.
This was after two separate reports, on Feb 23 and 25, of spittle being found on the mirrors and buttons inside the lifts of HDB blocks in Punggol Walk and Ang Mo Kio Street 32.
In another case, police quizzed three 15-year-olds after SBS Transit lodged a police report on Feb 20 when spittle was found on the buttons of a lift at Rumbia LRT station.
The teenagers are being investigated for an offence of mischief. Investigations showed that the offence was committed on Feb 19 at about 6.10pm. Anyone found guilty of being a public nuisance can be fined up to $2,000.
If the public nuisance act is found to have caused or will probably cause common injury, danger or annoyance to the public, those found guilty can be jailed for up to three months, fined up to $2,000, or both.
If convicted of mischief, they can be jailed for up to two years, or fined, or both.
Those under the age of 16 cannot be jailed.
"Everyone needs to play their part by observing good personal hygiene and being socially responsible," the police said yesterday.
