Three teenagers arrested over alleged spitting incident in Bugis shopping mall

SINGAPORE - Three teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, were arrested on Tuesday (March 17) for allegedly spitting over the railing in a Bugis shopping mall.

This comes just after police said last Thursday that another three teens were arrested for a similar stunt.

The police said in a statement on Wednesday that they received a report that a male victim was on the ground floor of the shopping mall in Victoria Street when spittle falling from a higher floor of the mall landed on him.

Preliminary investigations showed that the three boys had 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 boys.

The teenagers are being investigated by the police for being a public nuisance.

The police said that 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 similar incidents also involving teenagers.

Last Thursday, three other teenagers, two boys and one girl aged between 17 and 19, were arrested over a suspected spitting incident in a shopping mall in central Singapore.

Police last month also apprehended two boys aged 12 and 17 for allegedly spitting inside public lifts in Housing Board blocks.

This was after two separate reports, on Feb 23 and 25, were made when spittle was 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 they spat on the lift buttons on Feb 19 at about 6.10pm.

The police on Wednesday said: "Everyone needs to play their part by observing good personal hygiene and being socially responsible."

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.

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