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Man arrested for trying to tailgate through Woodlands Checkpoint

Woodlands Checkpoint.

A man was arrested at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Sunday when he tried to evade security by tailgating another car.

According to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in a statement, 42-year-old Koh Chin Had, a Malaysian, drove his Perodua Kambara through the immigration clearance area at about 12:20pm.

Officers from both the ICA and the police then locked down the Arrival Car Zone and found his car in it. He had no travel documents in his possession, added the ICA.

He was then charged in court on Monday for failing to present his passport for clearance and for not stopping his car at the point of entry to Singapore.

Speaking about the incident on Monday in parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean said his ministry "views each and every single security breach seriously".

"If there are gaps and failings in our security regime, be they structural, systemic or individual, we must quickly and thoroughly address them," he said.

DPM Teo added that the authorities are still investigating the case, the latest in a string of three immigration breaches that have occurred since the beginning of this year.

Asked by Nominated Member of Parliament Nicholas Fang if Sunday’s case is an indicator of a growing trend of people attempting to enter the country illegally, DPM Teo said there will always be attempts to evade security while passing through immigration points, a situation that is not unique to Singapore.

Overall, though, he said Singapore’s security is “tight”, and that the measures the country has taken on this front are “reasonably effective”. At the same time, he also said that an additional 30 car counters will be available at immigration points by 2016.

Fake passports

Along the same vein, Senior Minister of State for Home and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli told parliament on Monday that an average of 350 travellers each year in the last five years are found in Singapore with false travel documents.

He also said that about 7,000 Singapore passports have been reported stolen or lost each year during the same period, adding that Singapore accesses Interpol’s database of passports about 29 million times a year to cross check. Masagos stressed that it is an offence if a person loses his passport but does not report that it is missing.

Since the beginning of this year, Singapore has seen two other high-profile cases of checkpoint security breaches.

In January, 27-year-old Nurul Rohana Binte Ishak successfully tailgated her way through the Woodlands Checkpoint and eluded police for three days, tailgating her way through Cantonment Police Complex and into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs compound. She was later found to be of unsound mind and the charges against her were dropped.

Early last month, a 64-year-old man drove his Singapore-registered gold Mercedes Benz through the checkpoint while trying to escape officer checks, even crashing through the security barrier that was activated. He has since been charged with vandalism and acting rashly, and has been remanded at the Institute of Mental Health.

Additional reporting by Nurul Azliah Aripin