The mysterious signal interference which interrupted service on the Circle Line MRT two months ago is back. Thousands of commuters were affected during the morning crush yesterday when an “intermittent signal fault” persisted for three hours from around 7.30am.

At one point, service ground to a halt for more than an hour in the northern stretch of the line, affecting five stations between Botanic Gardens and Serangoon. On other parts, journeys were delayed by 20 to 30 minutes up to past 10am.

The disruption had a ripple effect as stranded commuters took to taxis and private transport, adding to peak-hour traffic on the road.

Motorist Chester Chong said he took an hour and 20 minutes to get from Teban Gardens to Bartley, a journey which usually takes 45 minutes or less.

“I was stuck on the PIE (Pan-Island Expressway) for 45 to 50 minutes,” the 31-year-old sales consultant said. “When I reached the Braddell flyover, I could see a huge jam in the other direction.”

SMRT said that preliminary findings revealed a communications glitch similar to the one which disrupted service on the line for a week in late August.

The first incident was traced to an unknown signal interference which disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared – before the source could be established.

In a joint statement yesterday, SMRT and the Land Transport Authority said they had arranged with the Infocomm Media Development Authority and mobile network operators “to suspend telecommunication signals along stretches of the line for short periods of time to assist in investigations”. This is to establish whether telco signals are behind the interference.

They also said the driverless Circle Line trains “will be manned during evening peak hours”.

SIM University senior lecturer Park Byung Joon said: “They have to find the source of this interference. The system is not a living organism. It won’t heal itself. So unless they find the fault and fix it, it will remain.”

Meanwhile, many commuters reached their destinations far later than usual.

IT consultant Davis Li, 32, was stuck in a train for an hour and 45 minutes when it stalled between Caldecott and Marymount stations.

“I got on at 8.15am, and the train started to move again only at 10am,” he said.

He reached his workplace in Bishan at 10.30am – 90 minutes late.

Undergraduate Denise Tan, 21, said she was late for class despite spending $33 on a cab which she managed to secure after 20 minutes. She usually takes the train from Bartley to Kent Ridge station.

Student care teacher Bryan Lee, 33, said he was delayed for 20 to 30 minutes. “I left my house at around 9.40am to get to Bishan station. When I found out about the breakdown, I went up to catch the free bus,” he said. “Then I heard the announcement that service had resumed, so I went back down again.”

Free buses were activated along the line but the roads, too, were congested.

The latest disruption occurred despite the LTA announcing on Sept 21 that it was planning to prevent a repeat of the signal interference through steps such as fitting trains with an electromagnetic shield.

Meanwhile, service on the East-West Line lapsed during the evening peak period.

SMRT tweeted at around 5.45pm that there was no service between Queenstown and Outram Park stations towards Pasir Ris because of a train fault at Tiong Bahru station.

Free buses were activated.

The stalled train was cleared at around 6.20pm but free buses were still available, SMRT said.

This article was first published on Nov 03, 2016.
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A 56-year-old businessman on trial for murdering his wife’s former lover in the back of a borrowed van took the stand yesterday and denied killing the much younger man.

Chia Kee Chen, who faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of murder, pushed the blame to an individual named “Ali”.

Chia told the court that he wanted only to “get back” a thumbdrive containing video clips of his wife having sex with her 37-year-old lover, material analyst Dexmon Chua Yizhi.

Testifying through a Hokkien interpreter, he said he felt “ashamed” after receiving an anonymous call telling him that the victim was sharing the videos with his colleagues.

CCK carpark murder: His final hours

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, Lianhe Zaobao

Chia said that Ali, a Malaysian he had met years ago at a Johor coffee shop, offered to get the thumbdrive for him for RM5,000 (S$1,650).

There is no mention of Ali in the accounts of Chia’s two accomplices – his Indonesian worker Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko and his longtime friend Chua Leong Aik.

Chua, 67, drove the van but got out, afraid, when he heard sounds and shouts coming from the back. He is serving a five-year jail term for abduction and causing grievous hurt.

Febri, 34, who returned to Bintan after the killing, gave a statement to local police, fingering Chia as the culprit who had repeatedly hit the victim’s face and banged his head against the floor of the van.

Febri said Chia had sought his help to kill a person who had raped his wife. He is wanted by police here but remains at large as Singapore has no extradition treaty with Indonesia.

In contrast, Ali played a vital role in Chia’s version of the events surrounding the victim’s death between the night of Dec 28 and the early hours of Dec 29, 2013.

Chia said Ali had assured him that he could get the thumbdrive by the end of December.

Read also: Wife tells of affair that led to ex-lover’s death

As for the van, Chia said he had borrowed it on Dec 28 to help Febri transport some fish.

Chia said Febri and Chua were in the van when he received last-minute instructions from Ali to drive to a multi-storey carpark near the victim’s Choa Chu Kang flat and park in a specific space.

In the carpark, Ali appeared with his own van, he said.

Some time later, after the victim had parked in the adjacent space and got out of his car, Ali grabbed hold of his neck and pushed him into the back of the van, said Chia.

Chia said he and Febri got into the back as well, while Ali closed the sliding door and instructed them to drive to an army camp in Lim Chu Kang.

Chia said that inside the van, Febri and the victim fought, kicking each other. He said he kicked the victim once in retaliation when the victim kicked him.

Chia said he asked the victim for the thumbdrive but the victim said he did not have it. In his account, he took over the wheel after Chua fled, leaving Febri alone in the back of the van. He said they were fighting but he could not tell who had hit whom.

Chia said he drove to a traffic junction near the camp. Ali then arrived in his van and said he wanted to tie the victim to a tree.

After Febri and Ali dragged the victim to Ali’s van, Chia drove away with Febri, he said.

“I just wanted to get the thumbdrive back, the rest of the things I didn’t want to know,” he said.

Chia said Ali also told him to meet at Lim Chu Kang later that morning to see if he managed to get the thumbdrive. But Ali did not show up, he said.

The trial continues today.

This article was first published on Nov 03, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.