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Woman killed in Spain: Singaporean suspect travelled overseas often for business, rave parties4/22/2024 SINGAPORE - The man allegedly linked to the murder of Singaporean architect Audrey Fang regularly travelled overseas for business and to attend dance parties, said those familiar with him.
Mitchell Ong, who was identified on April 20 by Spanish media as a suspect in the case, is a fitness enthusiast who frequented a gym in Orchard Road three to five times a week. An acquaintance, who declined to be identified, said he knew that Ong, 43, often travelled overseas. “He was nice during the interactions I had with him... I recall he likes to travel for business and raves,” he said. A check on Ong’s Instagram account showed that he had attended several music festivals abroad. Between 2022 and 2024, he also travelled to different parts of Europe. In a more recent post, he shared that he was in Alicante on April 4, the same day Ms Fang travelled alone to Xabia, which is about 80km away. In another post, Ong showed that he had purchased a gaming card valued at a few thousand dollars. Ong, who described himself as being 1.88m tall on his Instagram page, was arrested in his hotel room in Alicante on April 16. Another acquaintance of Ong, who also frequented the same gym, said the suspect had previously told him that he was working in the financial industry. He recalled Ong being a bit of an “awkward” person who sported expensive sneakers. “I would say he cared a lot about what he was wearing,” added the man, who is in his 20s. A business colleague of Ong said they got to know each other about 15 years ago when he started providing marketing services to the suspect, including for an online IT store that was incorporated in 2013. A search of business records showed the store is no longer in operation. The man, who is in his 30s, said: “Generally, he was a nice person to work with, so I was quite shocked when I read the news. “We stopped talking just before the pandemic, but I remember him as always being prompt with payments. “The different projects I worked with him usually cost about $2,000 or so, depending on the specifics, but he was never a customer that I needed to badger for payments. “He would check the work and if it was all good, he would pay up.” However, a former director at the IT store had a different experience working with Ong. The foreign national, who wanted to be known as John, said he was working in a computer store in Singapore when Ong visited as a customer. They eventually became business partners when they started the IT store. Within a year, John, 36, said their business relationship had soured. Before returning to his home country, John claimed Ong threatened that he would “make some problem” for John if he ever returned to Singapore. “He is ambitious and organised, but the bad thing about him is his temper,” John added. Ong, who was married in 2012, according to a Registry of Marriages search, had his hand in several businesses. He is still listed as a director in a company based in Goldhill Shopping Centre that is involved in the insurance line. A check by reporters of the company’s address showed it is now occupied by an education centre. On April 21, reporters visited Ong’s residential address – a condominium unit in Bukit Timah. Several attempts to reach its occupants via an intercom outside the building were unsuccessful. According to his LinkedIn page, which was removed on April 20 while he was in custody in Spain, he has been working as a private wealth management specialist since 2011. He previously worked as a financial services consultant from 2014 to 2019, and a financial adviser from 2011 to 2013. Ong is said to have studied economics at the National University of Singapore, and was previously from a popular all-boys secondary school and one of the top junior colleges here. Spanish media La Verdad de Murcia, quoting sources close to the investigation, said on April 20 that an “economic motive” may be behind the murder. It said Ms Fang had made some investments, with recent transfers to an unidentified third person. It added that officers from the Murcia Judicial Police, who searched the suspect’s hotel room, found Ms Fang’s mobile phone among his possessions. Ms Fang, 39, went missing while on holiday in Xabia, in south-eastern Spain. She was seen alive on April 9 at 8.45pm (2.45am on April 10, Singapore time) on closed-circuit television cameras. Her body was found the next day at a lorry park around 150km away, or about two hours’ drive from her hotel. She was reportedly stabbed more than 30 times. Passers-by in Jurong West stop sales promoter from slitting hand after she finds $2,000 stolen4/22/2024 After losing her hard-earned money to a pickpocket, a sales promoter in Jurong West was so distraught that she slit her hand with a knife last Saturday (April 20).
But thanks to a few passers-by who managed to restrain her, the woman, who sells juice blenders, could not harm herself further. The incident happened at a stall set up outside a provision shop at Block 504, Jurong West Street 51 at around 10.30am. A man who was present at the scene, Lin Kun Yao (transliteration), told the Chinese evening daily that a man was seen squatting next to the sales promoter. On the pretext of tying his shoelaces, he was believed to have nicked $2,000 from the woman's bag, which was made up of the stall's takings for the week and her own money, the 37-year-old added. Shortly after she discovered the money gone and called the police, she was seen sobbing while squatting, her face buried in her hands. The agitated woman later picked up a fruit knife that was on the table and slit her hand. That alarmed several passers-by, who rushed to take the knife away from her. One of them was a 55-year-old man surnamed Zhuo, who said: "I quickly stopped her and called an ambulance in case she tried anything foolish again." When the woman tried snatching the knife back, the passers-by threw it aside and contacted her boss. They also tried to comfort the woman by telling her not to worry about the money and that what happened was not her fault. A female stallholder was seen restraining and consoling her. Zhuo said: "She was from Malaysia and probably couldn't stop thinking about the loss." A photo taken by reporters showed that there were some minor cuts and scrapes on the woman's left hand. Responding to reporters queries, the police said they were alerted to a case of theft at the block in Jurong West and that they are investigating. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they sent one person to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. SINGAPORE – A migrant worker who died on April 18, 2023, after falling six metres through a lift shaft in Ion Orchard was drunk while doing welding work, a coroner’s court has found.
In her report on April 19, coroner Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said Mr Varadharaju Sundarajan, a 39-year-old Indian national, had a high level of alcohol in his body at the time which likely impaired his judgment and caused the incident. The coroner added that the worker had climbed over a guard rail, which he need not have done, and failed to inform his site supervisor about what he was working on. The court heard that Mr Varadharaju had been employed by Fong Hong Engineering as a construction worker since 2016. He was working the night shift that day and was tasked with performing metal structural work related to the construction of a new lift shaft in retail units occupied by Christian Dior. At about 11pm on April 17, 2023, Mr Varadharaju attended a meeting with his co-workers before performing cutting work. He was told to inform the site manager after completing it, so that another worker could be assigned to assist with welding work thereafter. According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) investigation report, he began welding on his own without wearing a body harness or safety helmet. At about 12.35am on April 18, he fell through the lift shaft opening on level two and landed on the ground floor. He was unconscious when taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He had multiple skull fractures, extensive brain haemorrhage, rib fractures and pancreatic injury. He could not be resuscitated and died at around 6.10am that day. With 178mg of alcohol detected per 100ml of his blood, a pathologist found that Mr Varadharaju was likely drunk and experienced impaired judgment, unstable gait and a reduced ability to act. The legal alcohol limit for driving is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. MOM’s occupational safety and health division found that Fong Hong had implemented risk control measures at the time. This included having guard rails with warning signs on the open side of the lift landings to prevent falls. Mr Varadharaju’s brother was alerted to the death. He told the police that his brother consumed alcohol occasionally, on his days off and during holidays. SINGAPORE - At least one person is dead after a multi-vehicle crash in Tampines on the morning of April 22.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said a total of eight people were taken to hospital - four to Changi General Hospital, two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and two to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. The SCDF said it was alerted at 7.07am to the accident, which happened at the junction of Tampines Avenue 1 and Tampines Avenue 4. It added that a person was lying on the road with one leg trapped under the wheel of a car and that SCDF used hydraulic rescue equipment to free the person’s leg. A few members of the public, including a nurse and two off-duty SCDF officers, had rendered assistance to the injured after the accident, SCDF said, adding that the force will be commending them for their public spiritedness. Photos of the accident’s aftermath show a black car turned turtle with its doors flung open in the middle of the road. Another black car is seen to be badly damaged, with its windshield shattered and front bumper completely detached. Debris from the crash is also scattered across the road. One eyewitness told reporters that she lives near the accident area and was driving towards Tampines from Bedok Reservior after dropping her children off at school, and passed by the accident site at around 8.30am. The eyewitness, who is in her 40s and wanted to be known only as Ms Chew, said she returned to the site at around 8.45am to see what had happened. She said she saw around six vehicles that appeared to have been involved in the accident. This included one car that turned turtle, another car which seemed to have hit a lamp post, as well as a mini bus and van that were facing the opposite direction from the other vehicles. One car had also crashed into the road divider, she added. “I was not in a hurry but heard on the radio about the congestion beforehand and was alarmed to see the severity of the accident. I just hope the drivers and passengers are okay.” St Hilda’s Primary School pupil Ng Ying Chen said he was on his way to school when he got stuck in a traffic jam caused by the accident. “The journey that usually takes 10 minutes became 30 minutes and we had to detour because the road was inaccessible due to several accident vehicles blocking the road,” the 10-year-old said. He also saw a few ambulances, fire trucks and police officers on site. Reporters has contacted the police for more information. SINGAPORE – A prison officer allegedly used a work-related computer portal to conduct unauthorised checks on 34 inmates between April 2022 and February 2023.
Court documents did not disclose why Ahmad Rihyad Abd Rahim, 31, purportedly did so. Ahmad, who resigned after the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) found out about his alleged actions, now faces three charges under the Computer Misuse Act. He is expected to plead guilty in a district court on May 27. According to court documents, he was at the Selarang Park Complex Institution S1A in Upper Changi Road North in April 2022 when he allegedly used his assigned account for an inmate database system called the Prisons Operations and Rehabilitation System (Ports2) to conduct a check on a man. Ahmad is accused of using the same Ports2 account to conduct unauthorised screenings on a female inmate on eight occasions between July 13 and Sept 3, 2022. Separately, he is said to have committed similar offences linked to 32 other male and female inmates between June 2022 and February 2023. SPS told reporters in a statement on April 19 that the alleged offences first came to light when it conducted an internal audit on Ahmad’s usage of the inmate database system as part of investigations. His access to the system was then suspended, and he was redeployed to other duties that did not involve interacting with inmates or having access to information on them. Police arrested Ahmad after SPS lodged a report on May 30, 2023. An SPS spokesperson told reporters: “(We take) a very serious view of any unauthorised access to (our) internal systems. “Any officer found to have done so will be reported to the appropriate authorities to be dealt with sternly and in accordance with the law.” For each charge of the crime under the Computer Misuse Act, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000. A repeat offender can be jailed for up to three years and fined up to $10,000. About 2.682kg of heroin was seized by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on Apr. 17, 2024, according to a press release.
A 45-year-old Singaporean man was arrested on suspicions of drug trafficking. In addition, 20g of "Ecstasy", 10g of "Ice", 10g of cannabis and two Erimin-5, or Nimetazepam, tablets were seized. The drugs were estimated to be worth about S$286,000 and were estimated to be able to feed the addiction of 1,280 abusers for a week, CNB said. May face death penalty CNB officers arrested the man in the vicinity of MacPherson Lane. The man was carrying a black pouch, which was found to contain about 239g of heroin. Officers proceeded to raid the man's hideout located in the vicinity of Jalan Chengkek, and recovered about 2.443kg of heroin and the rest of the drugs. Investigations are currently ongoing. Anyone found guilty of trafficking more than 15g of heroin may face the death penalty. A 49-year-old woman, Gan Hui Ling, was jailed three months and two weeks for making a nuisance of herself at home, kicking two police officers, including one in the groin, and hurling vulgarities at them, even after she was arrested.
The incident occurred on Jul. 8, 2022. For her actions during, she was convicted on four charges, two of which pertained to voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant, while another two were for using abusive words towards a public servant. She was also convicted on a fifth charge of stealing wine from a Giant supermarket located at Suntec City on Dec. 25, 2023. A total of 10 other charges were also taken into consideration. What happened on Jul. 8, 2022 Got into argument with sister-in-law According to court documents seen by reporters, Gan had gone to the Tanglin Club with her son to meet a longtime schoolmate. While she was there, she consumed some whiskey and three cocktails. She returned home shortly after 9pm to find that her sisters-in-law were visiting their mother-in-law. An argument soon broke out between Gan and one of her sisters-in-law. Gan's second sister-in-law intervened and attempted to defuse the situation by bringing Gan to her room. Meanwhile, Gan's mother-in-law went into her own room with the other sister-in-law, where they remained with the door closed. However, Gan headed over to her mother's-in-law room, and began kicking on the closed door. Her first sister-in-law called the police in response. Behaved aggressively towards the police officers Five police officers eventually arrived at the scene. They noticed that Gan was lying in her room on her bed, and reeked of alcohol. When they attempted to interview Gan about her dispute with her sister-in-law, Gan turned aggressive and attempted to walk towards her sister-in-law, who was in the living room, to confront her. When the police officers separated Gan from her relatives and restrained her so as to calm her down, she resisted and physically assaulted the police officers. Kicked male officer in groin, hurled vulgarities after her arrest She kicked one male officer on his groin and kicked another female officer twice — once on her left knee and once on her abdomen area. She also scolded the female officer, saying, "You think you police are big f*ck ah?" She was arrested and brought to Police Cantonment Complex, where she continued swearing at both officers whom she had kicked with Hokkien vulgarities, such as "k**ina" and "c*ee b*e". Both officers sought treatment at Tan Tock Seng hospital the day after her arrest. The male officer was given a day of medical leave while the female officer was given two. Prosecution: Accused has little respect for law and authority In their sentencing submissions, the prosecution noted that Gan had little respect for law and authority, as shown by her behaviour towards the police officers on Apr. 8. The prosecution also noted that Gan had engaged in shop theft while she was out on bail over the Jul. 8, 2022 incident. In light of such behaviour, the prosecution said a sentence ranging from three months and three weeks to five months and six weeks would be appropriate. Han said during her mitigation that she had been under mental and financial pressure. She also expressed regret and said she would like to change her future, return to her family and contribute to society. The judge noted that all of Gan's offences were related to alcohol and advised her to stop drinking. A video of Singapore law enforcement sawing through a gate to gain entry into a Housing and Development Board flat surfaced on TikTok.
The incident occurred at Block 57 Lengkok Bahru on Apr. 17 at around 8am. In the video, sparks could be seen as officers sawed through the metal gate before gaining entry. In response to reporters queries, the Singapore Police Force confirmed that they received a call for assistance at Block 57 Lengkok Bahru at 7:50am on Apr. 17. When the police officers arrived, a 59-year-old man had locked himself in his residential unit. The police assessed that the man might pose a danger to himself, and officers from the Special Operations Command, Crisis Negotiation Unit and Singapore Civil Defence Force responded to the incident. At 10:50am, SPF managed to gain entry into the unit. No injuries were reported. The man was subsequently apprehended under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2008. He is currently under investigation by the Central Narcotics Bureau for a drug-related offence. Angel's Restaurant at Bedok North Street 5 was fined S$3,300 on April 17 for food safety lapses.
In January 2023, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) received reports of gastroenteritis involving 19 people who consumed catered food prepared by the restaurant. No one was hospitalised. MOH and SFA conducted a joint investigation and multiple food safety lapses were found at the restaurant's premises. These included severe cockroach infestation at food preparation areas, peeling wall paint and cracked, and discoloured floor tiles. SFA suspended the restaurant's business operations from Jan. 20 to Feb. 28, 2023. The restaurant was made to rectify the lapses and take necessary measures to improve the food safety practices and cleanliness of its premises. Offenders convicted face a fine not exceeding S$2,000, and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding S$100 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction. Food processing & repacking at unlicensed premises Another company was also fined on the same day for food safety violations. Ma Bo (Fried Fish) Lor Mee was fined S$2,000 for processing and repacking food products at an unlicensed premises. The dried food products supplier's company premises was inspected on Oct. 13, 2023. Food processing and repacking activities were found to have been conducted within the premises. The company is not licensed to conduct any food processing and repacking activities. Approximately 600kg of food products were seized. These included pre-packed products, such as cinnamon, premixed flour, rock sugar, soy sauce, processed chili paste, and ground dried shrimp. All food processing and repacking establishments in Singapore must be licensed and are required to meet SFA’s requirements and food safety standards. These licensed establishments are also routinely inspected. Those convicted of illegally processing and repacking food products can face a fine not exceeding S$5,000 and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding S$10,000, or a jail term not exceeding three months, or both. SINGAPORE – The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has ordered the recall of honey dates imported from China by Yan Tai Yit, after detecting an undeclared sulphur dioxide allergen that could cause allergic reactions in some people.
Consumers who have purchased the affected product, which has a best before date of March 2, 2025, and those who are intolerant of sulphite or allergic to it are advised not to consume the product, SFA said on April 18. The recall is ongoing. Sulphite is commonly used as a food additive and is typically tested for sulphur dioxide. While sulphite does not pose a food safety issue to consumers at large, having excessive levels of sulphur dioxide in food can cause allergic reactions in some individuals who are hypersensitive to sulphite, SFA said. They may develop hives, itchiness, stomachache, diarrhoea, and vomiting. SFA said under Singapore’s food regulations, food products containing ingredients that are known to cause hypersensitivity must be declared on food packaging labels to protect those with food allergies. “All ingredients in pre-packed food should also be specified on the product label in descending order of the proportions by weight in which they are present,” it added. Those who have consumed the honey dates and have concerns about their health should seek medical advice. SFA added that consumers may contact their point of purchase for inquiries. |
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