Police refutes false claims regarding raid in Clementi, says no drug seizure and firearms involved

Singapore Police Force has clarified that there was no seizure of drugs or firearms and a person jumping from a flat to evade arrest during a raid on a Clementi unit on Wednesday (17 March).

This was said in a statement by the police today about ongoing investigations into the spreading of falsehoods online and via messaging applications regarding an incident at Block 309 Clementi Avenue 4.

In a series of messages that were spread which included photos of the scene, two different male individuals described 20kg of drugs and M16 rifles having being seized by the Police.

One of the two who spoke in Hokkien dialect, said that he was on the scene and claimed that several Malay and Indian people were arrested during the incident, and one of them died after having tried to evade arrest by jumping from the block.

“These statements are categorically false,” said the police.

According to the police, they and the Singapore Civil Defence Force responded to an incident at about 8.05am involving a 38-year-old Caucasian man who had locked himself inside a residential unit.

The man was said to be uncooperative and was assessed to pose a danger to himself.

Police officers entered the unit at about 12.20pm and the man was arrested under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act and is being investigated for suspected consumption of controlled drugs.

The police said no firearms or narcotics were seized during the incident, only one person was arrested, and the Caucasian man was not a drug trafficker.

It added no one had attempted to evade arrest by jumping from the block.

The police are investigating the circulation of falsehoods as an offence of communicating a false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

Under the Act, anyone who sends a message knowing it to be false or fabricated can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to three years, or both.