Two men, understood to be foreign nationals, were detained and questioned by the police today for reportedly snapping photos of the Bishan SMRT train depot, a secured facility. This happened just two days after the Infrastructure Protection Bill was passed in parliament to enhance security for major infrastructure locations, TODAY noted.
According to The Straits Times, the pair had managed to hop on a shuttle bus meant for transporting personnel into the depot, but they were discovered to be without authorized passes at the security gantry. The men claimed they wanted photos of the place, so they took out their cameras at the gate.
At the scene, ST reported that both men were surrounded by 10 police officers and security personnel. They were questioned for about half an hour at the gate, then brought into the security guardhouse.
It is believed that no arrests were made.
In light of the incident, an SMRT spokesman said: “The vigilance of security personnel at Bishan Depot resulted in them approaching two individuals who were seen taking pictures of the train depot. The depot is gazetted as a protected place. Our security personnel detained the two suspects and handed them over to the police.”
Unauthorized photography of protected places or areas (listed under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act) is also an offence, unless the authority in charge allows it.
But this isn’t the first time the Bishan SMRT train depot has had its security breached. In 2014, two 21-year-old Germans snuck into the depot and vandalized the exterior of an SMRT train with indelible spray paint. They were both sentenced to nine-month jail terms and three strokes of the cane in 2015.
Separately, SMRT was fined $200,000 by the Land Transport Authority in 2011 after a lapse in security resulted in the vandalism of a train cabin.
