For almost three weeks – 18 days from Aug 21 until Sept 7 – Raejali Buntut remained in transit by using 31 forged mobile boarding passes to enter several lounges in the three terminals.

But a staff at a lounge he had been to four times before saw through his ruse and called the police.

On Friday (Sept 16), Raejali, a former business development manager with Royale Consultant Management in Singapore, was jailed for two weeks after he pleaded guilty to three out of 31 charges of forgery.

A district court heard that Raejali had a ticket for an AirAsia flight, scheduled to depart for Kuala Lumpur at 7.05am on Aug 21.

The night before, he checked in at close to midnight and went to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 – using his boarding pass and his Priority Pass, issued by Citibank.

But Raejali woke up late and missed his flight. He decided to continue using the facilities at the lounges in the departure transit areas of the airport’s three terminals.

The court was not told why he wanted to stay at the airport.

Passengers are required to have a valid boarding pass to enter into a transit lounge. Since Raejali’s boarding pass was no longer valid, he decided to forge boarding passes.

He downloaded images of mobile boarding passes issued by two airlines – Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines – from the Internet, and then used an image editing software on his laptop to alter them.

Raejali inserted his name, a false flight number and a false destination on the fraudulent mobile boarding passes, before sending them to his mobile phone.

He forged 31 such passes and used them at the following lounges:

– Dnata Lounge at Terminal 1 and Terminal 3;

– Sats Premier Lounge at Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3;

– Plaza Premium Lounge at Terminal 1;

– Ambassador Transit Lounge at Terminal 2 and Terminal 3; and

– The Green Market Lounge at Terminal 2.

For instance, he went into the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 at about 11.30pm on Aug 21, and next moved to the Sats Premier Lounge at the same terminal at around noon on Aug 23.

The next morning, he went to the Dnata Lounge at the same terminal, before going to the Ambassador Transit Lounge at Terminal 3 the following morning.

Last Tuesday, a staff at the Dnata Lounge at Terminal 1 called police when she suspected Raejali’s misdeeds. He had entered that very lounge as recently as three days earlier, on Sept 3. He had also gone there on Sept 1 and on Aug 29 and Aug 24.

Policemen nabbed Raejali at about 4pm the next day.

In a statement, the police said it “conducts patrols and regular security checks on persons in the airport’s transit areas to ensure the safety and security of all passengers.”

Raejali’s sentence was backdated to the date of his remand on Sept 9. For forgery, he could have been jailed for four years and fined per charge.

This article was first published on Sept 16, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – There were 14 new Zika cases reported in Singapore on Friday (Sept 16), bringing the total number to 369 since the start of the outbreak on Aug 27.

Two cases were detected in a new cluster: Sengkang Central/Sengkang East Avenue.

There is also a new case at Vernon Park, which is within the Joo Seng Road cluster. There are now four cases at Joo Seng Road/Vernon Park.

Fighting Zika: Which mosquito repellent to use

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The Straits Times, New Straits Times, Avon, Reuters, The Business Times, Ronnie Lim, Far East Flora

Four new cases were in the initial cluster in Aljunied, which has reported 283 cases thus far.

Another new case was linked to the Elite Terrace area in Siglap, bringing the total there to 11.

There are now eight Zika clusters in Singapore, detailed on the National Environment Agency’s website: http://www.nea.gov.sg/zika-clusters.

The other clusters are in Balam Road/Jalan Raya/Circuit Road, Ubi Avenue 1/Ubi Crescent, Bedok North Avenue 3 and Bishan Street 12.

What is the Zika virus?

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Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, NEA

This article was first published on Sept 16, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Lewis Hamilton put on a brave face after his world championship bid suffered a setback Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix.

A mechanical issue forced him out of second practice prematurely after setting only the seventh quickest lap time.

Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who is just two points behind Hamilton in the title race, was fastest, ramping up the pressure on the English triple world champion.

Mercedes said there was no major problem with Hamilton’s car, just a “small hydraulic issue” which they were unable to fix in the session, meaning that in total Rosberg enjoyed around 45 minutes more track time on Friday.

“It doesn’t look like anything serious,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “The guys are working on it and it should be fine for tomorrow, which is the main thing.” Mercedes struggled in Singapore a year ago and were a second a lap off the qualifying pace set by winner Sebastian Vettel.

But Hamilton said he felt they had closed the gap on the slower street circuit which negates Mercedes power and aerodynamic dominance.

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F1 drivers arrive for Singapore Grand Prix 2016

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Singapore GP

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“Our pace looked OK today. Definitely much better than last year so I’d say we’re looking relatively strong.” Mercedes have won 13 of the 14 races this season so far but Singapore is shaping up into a three-way fight, after Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen went second fastest, followed by the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

“The difference with this venue is it plays a little more to our strengths than some of the previous races,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters after practice.

“You can see Mercedes are very quick and the Ferrari are right there also so I think it’s going to be a very close battle this weekend, particularly in qualifying tomorrow.” Rosberg’s flying lap of the 5.065 kilometre (3.14 miles) Marina Bay circuit in 1min 44.152sec enabled him to bounce back after crashing in the first practice session earlier in the day.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Chase Carey of Liberty Media, the sport’s new chairman, arrived at the track in time for second practice and would have liked what they saw at the spectacular night event set against the skyscape of downtown Singapore.

Raikkonen was second fastest in his Ferrari, just 0.275 sec behind Rosberg.

“The first practice session was tricky, I struggled a little bit, but the second practice was good,” said Raikkonen. “Everything worked and the car was handling pretty well.” Then came the Red Bull of Verstappen, using a new upgraded Renault engine, just ahead of teammate Ricciardo.

Last year’s winner Sebastian Vettel was unhappy to be only fifth quickest in his Ferrari.

“I was not entirely happy with the second session, I was struggling a little bit with the car balance, and therefore not really finding the rhythm but in general it has been a good day,” said Vettel.

Rosberg’s back-to-back wins in Belgium and Italy mean he is breathing down Hamilton’s exhaust pipe in the title race.

And victory in his 200th grand prix on Sunday – he is just the 16th driver in history to reach the landmark – would put the German back on top of the 2016 standings he had led at one stage by 43 points.

Mercedes did not make the podium in Singapore last year as Vettel won ahead of Ricciardo, with Hamilton retiring and Rosberg fourth.

SINGAPORE – The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority has detected high levels of a chemical that can cause symptoms like vomiting, rashes and heart palpitations in the canned product, Tuna chunks in Polyunsaturated Oil, from the brand Farmland.

The chemical, histamine, was detected through routine food safety surveillance, AVA said in a statement. The product is imported from Thailand and AVA is working with the importer to recall the affected batch.

“Consumers who have purchased the product should not consume it. Consumers who have consumed the product and feel unwell should consult your doctor or seek medical advice,” AVA said in the statement.

Eating marine fish that contain high levels of histamine can cause histamine poisoning, it added. Histamine in food is naturally found in fish species such as tuna, mackerel, and sardines, which belong to the Scombroid family.

Symptoms of histamine poisoning include rash on the upper body or burning in or around the mouth or throat. Symptoms also include a drop in blood pressure, headache and dizziness.

Victims might also suffer itching of the skin, nausea and vomiting. They may experience diarrhoea, an asthma-like constriction of the air passage, heart palpitation and respiratory distress.

Symptoms usually occur within a few minutes to a few hours of consumption and last from 12 hours to a few days.

jkoh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Sept 16, 2016.
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