Police investigating circulation of falsehoods on incident at Clementi HDB flat

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Saturday (Mar 20) said it is investigating the circulation of falsehoods related to an incident in which a man was arrested at a Housing Board flat in Clementi.

At about 8am on Wednesday, the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force responded to the incident at Block 309 Clementi Avenue 4, where a 38-year-old man had locked himself inside a flat.

"The man was uncooperative and was assessed to pose a danger to himself," said SPF in a news release.

Police officers gained entry to the flat at about 12.20pm and apprehended the man under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act. He is also being investigated for suspected consumption of controlled drugs.

"The police understand that there are various falsehoods circulating online and via messaging applications in relation to this incident, alleging that an array of firearms and 20kg of drugs were seized," said SPF.

"There are also claims that several Malay and Indian persons were arrested during the incident, and one of them had attempted to evade arrest by jumping down the block.

"These statements are categorically false," said SPF.

No firearms or narcotics were seized during the incident and no one attempted to evade arrest by jumping down the block, said the police in clarifying details of what happened.

"Only one person was arrested – the 38-year-old Caucasian man," said SPF, adding that he is not a drug trafficker.

The police are investigating the circulation of such falsehoods under an offence of communicating a false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

Under the Act, any person convicted of transmitting or causing to be transmitted a message knowing it to be false or fabricated could be jailed for up to 3 years, fined up to S$10,000 or both.

SPF separately provided a link to a Facebook post by Singapore Uncensored, a local news website, that linked to an article titled: "Police raids drug dealer with rifles, 20kg heroin found jumping down HDB to escape".

Both the Facebook post and article were no longer accessible as of Saturday afternoon.