A 24-year-old man was arrested on Monday (Feb 9) for his suspected involvement in scams relating to Pokemon trading cards, the police said on Wednesday. The alleged scammer had allegedly advertised pre-order sales of Pokemon trading cards on Telegram, racking up 21 reports from victims who lost at least $69,000. The suspect purportedly became uncontactable after receiving payments via bank transfer or PayNow, or gave excuses for delays in delivery of the cards. Officers from Woodlands Police Division identified the alleged seller and arrested him on Monday.The suspect will be charged in court on Wednesday with cheating, which carries a punishment of up to 10 years' jail and a fine."The police takes a serious stance against any person who may be involved in scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law, said the police in a news release on Wednesday.  Under enhanced penalties, which came into effect from Dec 30 last year, scammers and members or recruiters of scam syndicates will face mandatory caning of at least six strokes, up to a maximum of 24 strokes. 

SINGAPORE — Yet another noise dispute between neighbours ended badly, this time with a man smearing luncheon meat near a woman's flat after he got upset with her children playing outside his unit.Vikneswaran V. Moganaval, 36, was living in a Woodlands Housing Board flat when he became upset with the woman's two children, aged four and seven, for playing along the common corridor on Deepavali on Oct 20, 2025.Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En said Vikneswaran knew that the woman and her family are Malay-Muslim, and that consumption of and contact with pork are forbidden in Islam.DPP Chong said Vikneswaran wanted to throw luncheon meat at the woman's flat but refrained from doing so. Instead, he took a tin of luncheon meat, opened it, poured the contents into the common corridor and smeared them across the floor of the corridor.On Feb 11, Vikneswaran was sentenced to 14 weeks' jail after pleading guilty to one count of wounding the religious feelings of the woman and her family — an offence under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.

Chinese New Year (CNY) is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than having some good food with good company?Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and current and former People's Action Party (PAP) Members of Parliament gathered on Tuesday (Feb 10) for a CNY luncheon where they toasted to the Year of the Horse with an inaugral lohei session. Among the attendees were Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, former Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, and former MPs Dr Ahmad Mattar and Zainul Abidin Rasheed. A surprise birthday cake was also presented to SM Lee, who turned 74 on Tuesday.

As Singapore gallops into the Year of the Horse, punters can look forward to an opportunity for more festive cheer as they usher in the Chinese New Year (CNY).Singapore Pools, the city state's only legalised sports, lottery and horse racing operator, typically holds two special draws around CNY — the Reunion Draw, and the Hong Bao Draw — with the latter held towards the tail-end of the 15-day celebrations. This year's Reunion Draw will be held at 9.30pm on Friday (Feb 13), with a jackpot prize of at least $5 million. Singapore Pools' outlets, including those operated by authorised retailers, will also extend their operating hours till 9pm. Punters are advised to use Singapore Pools' outlet locator to confirm the exact operating hours of the outlet they intend to visit. Changes to operating hours for CNYMeanwhile, Singapore Pools announced changes to its operating hours over CNY. In a news release on its website, the gaming operator said all outlets will open till 4pm on the eve of CNY and remain closed on Feb 17 (first day of CNY). 

Parents who wish to register their children for Kindergarten 1 (K1) admission to Ministry of Education (MOE) pre-schools next year can do so between March 23 and 31, said the ministry on Wednesday (Feb 11). A total of 57 MOE kindergartens — including a new pre-school at Rivervale — will be participating in this year's MOE kindergarten registration exercise. The new kindergarten at Rivervale is among three new MOE kindergartens planned for opening between 2026 and 2027. Another MOE kindergarten — MOE Kindergarten @ Townsville — which was originally slated for opening in 2027 at Townsville Primary School's Ang Mo Kio campus, will not be going ahead as planned, after the announcement of the primary school's relocation to Sembawang in 2029.MOE had said in a press release in 2025 that East Canberra, where the school will be relocated, already has a «steady supply» of preschool places. Registration for the admission exercise is open to children of Singapore citizens and permanent residents born between Jan 2, 2022, and Jan 1, 2023, both dates inclusive.

A 79-year-old driver was injured after his car swerved into a road divider and overturned along Braddell Road. Dashcam footage of the incident showed the vehicle drifting into the right-most lane before it mounted the kerb and hit the centre divider, causing the car to overturn. An eyewitness who tried to help the male driver said that the car doors were locked and the engine didn't cut off, reported The Straits Times. The driver was subsequently pulled out of the vehicle through a broken window by other motorists.In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to an accident involving a car at about 2pm on Tuesday (Feb 10). The car was believed to have self-skidded along Braddell Road towards Bartley Road, the police added. The SCDF stated that the 79-year-old driver was assessed for minor injuries and he declined to be taken to the hospital.The driver is assisting police with ongoing investigations.[[nid:729704]]esther.lam@asiaone.com 

What was meant to be a short one-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore stretched into hours of waiting for travellers on board a Scoot flight on Monday (Feb 9) night.One affected passenger said in a Xiaohongshu post on Tuesday that the plane had taxied to the runway at Kuala Lumpur International Airport after she boarded the plane at about 9pm on Monday and remained on the tarmac for an hour.«Then, the captain announced that the aircraft was experiencing a brake issue and was being repaired, and asked for our patience,» she wrote.According to her, they waited on board till 1am on Tuesday, when another announcement was made that the plane could not be repaired.Passengers disembarked and boarded a shuttle bus back to the airport terminal.«It was nearing 2am when we returned to the terminal,» she said, claiming that ground staff did not give clear instructions on the passengers' next steps and were unable to answer many of their queries.Eventually, arrangements were made for passengers to rest overnight at an accommodation, and board the 10am flight to Singapore.

A fire broke out at Ang Mo Kio 628 Market along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 on Tuesday (Feb 10) morning. In response to AsiaOne's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it was alerted to the blaze at Block 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 at about 3.50am.SCDF firefighters conducted forcible entry and extinguished the fire, which involved the contents of a stall within the market, using a water jet.There were no reported injuries in the incident, added SCDF.The cause of the fire is under investigation. A video posted by Xing Hong Fresh Fruits, located in the market, showed other stallholders rushing to contain the fire with at least one hose reel, buckets of water and a fire extinguisher.Based on the footage, the stall sells dried goods and seasoning.Yip Hon Weng, Member of Parliament for Yio Chu Kang SMC, visited the scene the same morning.In a Facebook post that day, he thanked SCDF for its prompt response and the Town Council for clearing out the debris.The member of parliament also urged stallholders to store items properly and remove fire hazards.[[nid:729706]]

The higher cost of living in Singapore has driven a Singaporean delivery rider to buy a car across the border — a move that left several social media users calling it a «steal».A TikTok video shared on Jan 31 showed Afiq Zayany, 31, showing off his 4.8 litre Porsche Cayenne. The price? A cool RM18,000 (S$5,800), he said.Speaking to AsiaOne on Wednesday (Feb 11), Zayany said he saw «potential» in the used 2004 model - even with its age and faulty engines - when a friend shared its listing on Facebook Marketplace in Nov 2025. «The owner listed it at $8,000. I walked away and he called me back,» he said. «We agreed at $5,800. So, not bad.» A brand new Porsche Cayenne in Singapore — excluding the Certificate of Entitlement —  starts from over $400,000. Meanwhile, listings on SGcarmart show that second-hand models start from $30,000. The cheapest Porsche Cayenne that AsiaOne found online in Malaysia is a 2004 model that cost around $9,000. While the car was paid fully in cash, its affordable price came with an asterisk mark. 

The family of an elderly Singaporean man is appealing for information on his whereabouts after he went missing in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (Feb 7). In an Instagram post on Monday, the family of Halim Bin Yunos said he suffers from dementia and was last seen near Anggun Residence in a short-sleeved batik shirt.User wan_toh, who is Halim's son-in-law, told Mothership that Halim, who is 76 years old, had travelled with family to Malaysia to attend a wedding. The elderly man went missing sometime after the event. «We saw that actually he went out of the residence,» his son-in-law reportedly said, adding that the family was unable to find Halim despite searching the area. The family made a police report later on Sunday. 

A 16-year-old male pedestrian was taken to hospital after an accident with a car in Toa Payoh on Tuesday (Feb 10) afternoon. The accident happened at about 2.50pm along Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, towards Lorong 7 Toa Payoh. A video posted on the Roads.sg Facebook page showed paramedics attending to the teenager, who appeared to be wearing his school uniform. A passer-by was also seen holding an umbrella over the victim, as he sat slouched on the road. In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force said the 16-year-old male pedestrian was sent conscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and that a 39-year-old male car driver is assisting with investigations. Police investigations are ongoing.[[nid:729636]]editor@asiaone.com 

At least 10 cases involving phishing scams with total losses of at least $24,000 have been reported in the past two weeks, said the police on Tuesday (Feb 10). In this scam variant, Singaporeans travelling to Malaysia would receive an SMS purporting to be from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) about unpaid vehicle tolls. They would receive the SMS after their mobile phones connect to Malaysia's telecommunications network for roaming.The SMS is sent from LTA's former official sender ID named «LTA», which was decommissioned on July 1, 2024 and is no longer in use.Victims are prompted to click on a link to pay the supposedly unpaid tolls. The link redirects victims to a phishing site where they are asked for their bank card details. Victims only realise they have been scammed when unauthorised transactions are made to unknown merchants using their cards. 

If you find yourself receiving WhatsApp messages from your contacts asking you to vote for a «friend's» child at a dance competition, do not click any links in the message, or you may lose access to your WhatsApp account. The scam variant was revealed by the police in a news release on Tuesday (Feb 10), following reports from members of the public. According to the police, victims would receive WhatsApp messages from known contacts asking them to vote for a «friend's» child at a dance competition. The message would contain a clickable link directing the victims to a fake voting website. They would then be asked to "verify' their votes by providing their mobile number for a One-Time Password (OTP) by scanning a QR code. Those who enter the OTP or scan the QR code on their WhatsApp accounts were actually authorising the scammers' devices to access their accounts, the police said. 

At a construction site in Paris Ris for the upcoming Cross Island Line (CRL) Punggol extension, one of the 31 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras detects a worker without his helmet. Within seconds, his supervisor receives a notification alert on Telegram, along with a four-second footage of the errant behaviour. The lack of personal protective equipment is one of the three hazards that was shown to the media on Tuesday (Feb 10) to demonstrate SafeSite Video Analytics — a surveillance system for construction sites which has been on trial at the 6ha Pasir Ris construction site since August last year. Ten of the 31 CCTV cameras are equipped with the AI system. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the system can also detect when a worker goes into a higher risk area without authorisation, or strays too close to a machinery or moving vehicle, or under suspended loads such as cranes. The AI-enabled cameras are installed in higher-risk areas, such as vehicular and pedestrian walkways, and the perimeter of the construction site. 

SINGAPORE — For over a decade, Tampines GRC MP Baey Yam Keng and his grassroots teams have been organising trips to the region, including destinations such as Bintan, Desaru, Kluang and Malacca.So popular are these trips that in 2024, Baey put up a Facebook post to clear the air after some residents who missed out on a two-day tour to Malacca and Muar in Malaysia «kicked up a big fuss... and even scolded my volunteers».No, volunteers and activists did not reserve 50 out of the 240 seats, he clarified. While his then PAP Tampines North branch organised the trip, tour companies are appointed to run them professionally, he said. Yes, everyone pays, including the MP, and the branch does not subsidise costs or make money from the sales, he added.«Interestingly, we also overheard someone encouraging people to join the WP trip instead,» said Baey in his post then, which noted that the Workers' Party was organising a five-day trip to Malaysia around the same period.Since then, MPs have continued to lead sold-out getaways, such as to Johor Bahru to feast on durian or for pre-Chinese New Year shopping.

Works along a stretch of twin tunnels on the Circle Line (CCL) - between Paya Lebar and Stadium MRT stations - have reached nearly 50 per cent completion since tunnel strengthening works began on Jan 17.The works, which necessitated the partial closure of tunnels during normal operating hours, is due to an issue known as tunnel squatting.This refers to the phenomena that occurs when underground tunnels built in soft soil such as marine clay become deformed when the soft soil above compresses. Parts of the said train network are in soft marine clay.Robotic arm gives works a lift AsiaOne was among the media invited to witness part of the works along a stretch of tunnel between Dakota and Paya Lebar MRT stations, where a robotic arm was working on the last of 152 inner bound rings to be installed.

A 12-year-old was arrested for drug abuse in 2025 — the youngest that year — the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) revealed in a press release on Tuesday (Feb 10).This 12-year-old was among 177 local drug abusers under the age of 20 nabbed by CNB, with 163 of them being new drug abusers.In its annual statistics report released on Feb 10, CNB director Sebastian Tan stated that the youth drug problem in Singapore remains a concern. «Half of the new drug abusers arrested were below 30 years old,» he said, with statistics showing that 583 of the 1,165 new drug abusers arrested in 2025 were in that age range.Additionally, the proportion of female drug abusers increased from 15 per cent in 2024 to 19 per cent in 2025, with one in four new drug abusers arrested being female.Methamphetamine most commonly abused drugThe report also showed that methamphetamine, or Ice, continued to be the most commonly abused drug last year, followed by heroin and cannabis. Among new drug abusers, 72 per cent abused methamphetamine, 15 per cent abused cannabis, while the remaining abused drugs such as ketamine and heroin.

A Singaporean man's home was saved from being engulfed in flames, thanks to the quick thinking of the family's domestic helper. Facebook user Lester Tan shared in a post last Friday (Feb 6) that the unexpected incident took place on Feb 5 at around 6.30pm.Recounting the incident, Tan said that his helper had left the cooker hood running to clear the last bit of smoke before she headed back to her room but a few minutes later, she began to smell smoke. «Just the second day after Li Chun, the 'Fire Horse' decided to gallop straight into my kitchen last night. After reading plenty of news about fire coming from PMDs — didn’t expect ours to come from the cooker hood,» said Tan. He added that the fire had «started small» with just the central fan area of the cooker hood burning. «But as she phoned us to shout fire, that small flame suddenly erupted into a fierce blaze all the way to ceiling, likely fuelled by the oil trapped in the filters,» he added.Tan described white smoke rushing into the living room as the brand-new smoke detector he'd bought «began screaming».