Some joker got himself arrested on Sunday afternoon for causing a proper scare when he intentionally left an unattended luggage bag at Hougang MRT station.
The result of the 39-year-old’s little stunt? A brief shutdown of the station, with all trains on the North-East Line (NEL) skipping their stops at Hougang. The police had to come in and conduct checks — only to find that the contents of the lone luggage consisted of household items.
SBS Transit discovered the unattended bag on the boarding platform of the Hougang station at about 2.40pm yesterday, alerted commuters to a “security incident”.
Oh my….. Did something bad happen at Hougang mrt stn? pic.twitter.com/W4DlOZPTGq
— L.W. (@yomanhee) April 2, 2017
It was only around 4.02pm that police opened the bag and found nothing suspicious, while SBS resumed train services at Hougang MRT not long after.
The hunt for the culprit didn’t take that long either.
“Officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division and Public Transport Security Command, with the assistance of SBS Transit, quickly traced the owner of the bag and he was arrested at Hougang MRT at about 4.35pm”, wrote Singapore Police Force in a statement.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had intentionally left his bag inside Hougang MRT station while he ran an errand.”
The man was arrested for the offence of Public Nuisance and the Penal Code. Police commended the staff of SBS Transit for their vigilance, and assured that they’ll take action against anyone who intentionally causes public alarm.
