Leaked CCTV footage showing a gold Mercedes-Benz breaching security at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Mar. 8, has been making its rounds online.
According to a Channel NewsAsia report, the 65-year-old Malaysian driver had already been cleared by immigration when officers wanted to search his spare tyre compartment at the secondary checks zone.
He then got into the car and drove away, overtaking a moving car before crashing into the security barrier that had already been activated.
In the 22-second video below, you’ll be able to see the car attempting to flee, but is held up temporarily by the barrier. An officer is seen whipping out his baton, while another tries the back door without result.
Moments later, the Mercedes with its front tyres already punctured, overcomes the barrier and enters Singapore.
By the time the car escaped into the country, the authorities had already identified the driver. 35 minutes after the escape, an alert was sent to taxi companies to help locate him and the car.
At about 8:30pm on the same day, the vehicle was found abandoned. The driver was apprehended at a different location at about 9:15pm.
Authorities say a package believed to contain drugs has been recovered as part of the investigations, which reportedly involve four other men.
In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean recognises the incident in which the security barrier fails to prevent a vehicle from passing for the first time, and said measures to make the city’s checkpoints more secure will be introduced as soon as possible.
Mr. Teo also said in a separate statement that the incident reinforces the results of a recent review that prove the alarm and barrier systems at the checkpoints to be inadequate, and added that protocols and officer training all need to be improved.
Separately, the chairman for the Government Parliamentary Committee for Law and Home Affairs Hri Kumar Nair is said to be concerned that a normal saloon car can pass through the security barrier, according to Channel NewsAsia.
Said Nair, it could be too late if a car loaded with ordnance is recovered only after it runs through the barrier.
“We need to have the infrastructure to make sure vehicles can’t go through without our allowing them to do so,” he said.
Police are still investigating how the CCTV footage was leaked.
