Singapore
The man was arrested for causing public alarm after police said he left a ‘suspicious white substance’ at Woodleigh MRT station.
SINGAPORE: A 69-year-old man has been arrested for causing public alarm after he allegedly left a “suspicious white substance” at Woodleigh MRT station, triggering a temporary closure of the MRT station for about three hours on Tuesday (Apr 18), Singapore Police Force (SPF) said.
In a Facebook post, police said that they were alerted at about 1pm to “a case of suspicious white substance found at Woodleigh MRT station.”
“Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) HazMat officers subsequently established the substance to be baking flour. Police investigations are ongoing,” said SPF.
“The police treat all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who cause public alarm.”
In a subsequent update on Tuesday night, police said that two other men, aged 53 and 70, were assisting with investigations.
Preliminary investigations showed that the two were together with the man who had left the white substance at the MRT station, police said, adding that investigators established that the flour had been used to mark a trail for their running route.
Assistant station manager Mailyn B Carriaga told Channel NewsAsia that white powder had been found in three or four places at the station’s concourse area. She added that it was a cleaner who first spotted the substance. The station manager then informed the police, according to Ms Carriaga.
This is the second such incident in recent weeks, after Hougang MRT station was temporarily closed on Apr 2 for security reasons. A 39-year-old was arrested for causing a public nuisance after investigations revealed he had temporarily left a bag unattended in the station while he ran an errand.
