Man who criticised dead Traffic Police officer on Facebook arrested for shop theft
A man who was slammed online for his comments about a Traffic Police officer who died while performing his duties was arrested on Sunday for alleged shop theft.
Thomas Chua Poh Heng, 39, was arrested for alleged shop theft from a department store along Syed Alwi Road, said the Singapore Police Force in a statement sent early Monday morning (5 June).
The incident occurred at 5:37am on Sunday. Chua was detained outside the department store by in-house security officers after they found him with an unpaid item, and handed over to police.
The police also confirmed that Chua is also under investigation for three other separate police reports lodged against him since January this year. Investigations into these cases are still ongoing, added the police. Yahoo Singapore understands that the cases involve criminal intimidation, traffic offenses and failure to change the address on his identity card.
A police spokesperson told Yahoo Singapore, “His remarks were hurtful and unfair to our officers, and also his friends and family, however we will remain professional and objective in dealing with Mr Thomas Chua.”
Chua had posted comments on Facebook gloating over Nadzrie Matin’s death, claiming that he received traffic violations from the officer. Police said that none of these violations were issued by Nadzrie. Nadzrie was killed in an accident along Serangoon Road on 1 June.
Chua’s comments drew condemnation from Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. On Saturday, Shanmugam called Chua “sick in the head”, adding that Chua’s comments “are an insult to all police officers, and deeply offensive to Nadzrie’s family.”
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