Condoms seized in police raid of Little India shophouse for vice activities, 14 men arrested

A total of 146 women and 36 men, aged between 18 and 76, were arrested at massage establishments, public entertainment outlets and private premises in Little India, Boat Quay, Bugis and Chinatown in raids between Nov 20 and 25.

The operations were conducted by officers from Central Police Division and involved the Special Operation Command and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

Five public entertainment outlets were found to have contravened various licensing conditions.

The police also raided a shophouse at Little India targeting vice activities and arrested 14 men, aged between 18 and 39 years old, under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Condoms were seized during the raid.

The raids were part of ongoing efforts to mitigate physical crime during the year-end festivities.

A total of 885 men and 509 women are being investigated for various offences following the month-long island-wide multi-agency enforcement blitz conducted from Nov 15 to Dec 18.

These operations were conducted by various Police Land Divisions and supported by CNB, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Customs, Land Transport Authority (LTA), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Housing & Development Board (HDB) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

More than 1900 officers from all seven Police Land Divisions were deployed with over 630 operations conducted.

Checks were conducted on more than 6700 people, of which 523 were arrested.

The details of some of these operations are as follows:

• From Nov 27 to Dec 9, officers from Bedok Police Division led a joint enforcement operation with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), CNB, HSA, SCDF, ICA, Singapore Customs, LTA, MOM and SFA. The operation aimed to clamp down on illegal activities in Geylang, including illegal gambling, vice activities, sale of illegal sexual enhancement medicine and illegal hawking. A total of 18 men and 12 women, aged between 24 and 65, are being investigated for various offences.
  
• On Dec 1, officers from Tanglin Police Division led a joint enforcement operation with CID, ICA and SCDF at various public entertainment outlets in the vicinity of Orchard Road. Six women, aged between 28 to 40, were arrested for offences under Women’s Charter. Two men, aged 17 and 30, were arrested for suspected involvement in gang activities. One 29-year-old woman was arrested for remaining unlawfully in Singapore. Fire safety violations were also detected in two of the premises and SCDF is following up with enforcement actions.
• On Dec 8, Jurong Police Division led a multi-agency operation alongside officers from the Singapore Customs, ICA and CNB targeting potential public order incidents, illegal drug activities, immigration and customs-related offences at one of the migrant worker dormitories located in Tuas. Twenty-eight men, aged 21 to 49, are being investigated for alleged offences under the Customs Act 1960 and Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. A total of 531 sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes, two e-vaporisers and a packet of chewing tobacco were seized during the operation. The e-vaporisers and chewing tobacco were handed over to HSA.
  
• On Dec 5, officers from Woodlands Police Division, supported by ICA and JTC, conducted checks on vacant buildings along Sungei Kadut industrial estate areas. Police recovered items such as suspected controlled drugs, drug paraphernalia and knives. The joint operation was part of the authorities’ ongoing efforts to clamp down on criminal activities in vacant buildings in industrial areas, including premises used by illegal immigrants as hideouts.
• On Nov 29 and Dec 12, officers from Clementi Police Division, CID and HDB conducted enforcement operations targeting massage establishments operating along Jurong East Avenue 1 and Jurong East Street 21. Four operators and three women are assisting in investigations for their suspected involvement in various offences. During the operations, two massage establishments were found to be allegedly operating without a valid licence, while vice-related activities were allegedly detected at another two licensed message establishments. The three women, aged between 27 and 46, were arrested for allegedly providing sexual services at massage establishments.
  
• From Dec 8 to 12, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division conducted joint operations with HSA and LTA at Serangoon Central and Sengkang. Four men and one woman, aged between 28 to 40, were caught with e-vaporisers, which is an offence punishable under Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. Five e-vaporisers were seized during the operation. Officers also detected three offences under the Active Mobility Act with one power-assisted bicycle impounded.

Investigations against the 1,394 individuals are ongoing.

“The four-week anti-crime blitz is part of the police’s ongoing efforts to clamp down on crime and illegal activities, including those that intended to be in possession of weapons and do harm to others," said Director of Operations Department, Senior Assistant Commissioner Gregory Tan.

"We have observed a 35 per cent increase in the number of cases involving offences under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 from January to October 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.

"Offenders detected via proactive police checks (such as during enforcement operations, spot checks during patrols and at police roadblocks) have also increased by 62 per cent from January to October 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.