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  On February 2 2026, a 34-year-old crane operator named Muhammad Sukaimi Gasali was sentenced to four years and seven months’ jail and a fine of 5,000 dollars for orchestrating an extensive corruption and smuggling scheme. Sukaimi, who worked for a company called GL Crane at Jurong Port, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including three counts of corruption. Between 2021 and 2024, he systematically bribed four Certis security officers to facilitate the smuggling of contraband cigarettes into Singapore. The prosecution described the case as one of the most methodical attempts to undermine border security in recent years. Sukaimi did not simply offer money; he cultivated friendships with officers contracted by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and exploited their personal and financial vulnerabilities. The scheme began in late 2020 at Jurong Port when Sukaimi befriended officer Muhammad Haaziq Karudin. Sukaimi gained influence by helping Haaziq pay for motorcycle rep...

  On February 3 2026, the Singapore Parliament officially implemented a change in its seating arrangements, moving the Workers’ Party (WP) Secretary-General Pritam Singh from his prominent position in the House. For several years, Mr Singh had occupied the seat directly opposite Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, a position traditionally reserved for the Leader of the Opposition (LO) to facilitate direct debate and oversight of the government. However, following his formal removal from the LO role on January 15 2026, Mr Singh has been relocated two seats down in the same front row. According to the updated seating plan released on the Parliament website, Mr Singh is now seated between Jurong GRC MP Xie Yao Quan, who is also a Deputy Speaker, and Sembawang GRC MP Mariam Jaafar. This new placement puts Mr Singh directly across from Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Ong Ye Kung, rather than the Prime Minister. The seat previously held by Mr Singh across the ...

On January 29 2026, a 38-year-old Singaporean man named Wong Jeo Wah was sentenced in a district court to four weeks and three days of imprisonment, in addition to a fine of 2,000 dollars. Wong’s case drew significant public attention after he was featured as the "rude traveller" in a CNA Insider documentary focused on the Woodlands Checkpoint. He pleaded guilty to three charges: using insulting words towards an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, giving false information to the police, and an unrelated charge of voluntarily causing hurt. Four additional charges were taken into consideration during the sentencing. The events that led to his conviction began on August 12 2024. Wong was driving to Malaysia with his fiancée when they stopped at a departure lane counter at Woodlands Checkpoint. The ICA officer on duty, Mr. Ryan Seah, requested that Wong wind down the passenger window to verify the interior of the vehicle. Although Wong complied with the window, h...

  The Singapore real estate community has been dominated by the sudden leadership changes at PropertyLimBrothers (PLB) and KW Singapore following a series of highly publicized allegations involving co-founder Melvin Lim and Vice President of Strategy Grayce Tan. The timeline of events began to unfold rapidly during the week of January 19 2026, when videos surfaced on online platforms like Reddit. These recordings, provided by a witness, purportedly captured sounds of intimate behavior from behind a closed office door, followed by footage of Lim and Tan exiting the room together. By January 27 2026, both Melvin Lim and Grayce Tan had been removed from the leadership page of the PLB website. Grayce Tan, a well-known influencer with approximately 191,000 followers on Instagram, and Melvin Lim, a father of four, both made their social media accounts private as the speculation intensified. A leaked text message allegedly sent by Lim to the company appeared online shortly after. In this ...

  On January 28 2026, 37-year-old Sabrina Han Meizhen was officially charged in a Singapore district court with public nuisance following an incident on the North-South Line that gained widespread notoriety online. The Singaporean national is accused of causing significant annoyance to the public and a specific individual, Ng Siew Hiang, by spitting water while on a train at Choa Chu Kang MRT Station. The incident took place during the morning rush hour at approximately 8 AM on January 16 2026. According to court documents, Han allegedly took swigs of water from a bottle and purposefully spat or spouted the liquid in the direction of other commuters. The act was captured on video and later shared on Instagram with a sarcastic subtitle, "Lady helping to clean the train." The footage depicted a distressing scene for morning commuters; Han was seen standing on a floor that was already visibly wet, while fellow passengers crowded toward the far edges of the train cabin to avoid b...

  On January 26 2026, SBS Transit confirmed that it had lodged an official police report against the driver of a silver car for reckless behavior on the road. The incident, which took place on the afternoon of January 23 2026, involved the car allegedly hogging a bus lane and performing multiple abrupt brakes in front of a moving public bus. This took place along a busy five-lane stretch of Geylang Road, affecting bus service 51. According to SBS Transit spokesperson Grace Wu, the silver car entered the extreme left lane where the bus was operating. The spokesperson highlighted that the car drove at an unusually slow speed and repeatedly applied its brakes suddenly. These actions were taken despite there being no other vehicles or obstacles in front of the car that would necessitate such maneuvers. The transport operator emphasized that the report was necessary because the driver’s conduct created a potential safety hazard for other road users and, most importantly, for the bus com...

  On January 22 2026, legal proceedings commenced against a 30-year-old man involved in what has been described as the largest seizure of etomidate-laced vaporiser pods, commonly referred to as Kpods, in Singapore's history. Muhamad Khairuddin Abdullah was handed a charge for allegedly importing a staggering 1,989 of these pods through the Woodlands Checkpoint. The scale of this haul highlights the ongoing challenges authorities face regarding the illegal distribution of substances that have recently seen increased regulation and stricter penalties. The events leading to the charge began late on the night of January 20 2026. At approximately 11:05 PM, Khairuddin was driving a rental car into Singapore from Malaysia. Accompanying him in the vehicle were his 63-year-old mother and his four-month-old niece. During a routine inspection at the Woodlands Checkpoint, officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) uncovered two boxes hidden in the car’s boot. Upon closer i...

  On January 21 2026, the Workers’ Party (WP) issued a formal response to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, declining his invitation to nominate a new Leader of the Opposition (LO). This decision follows the Prime Minister's move on January 15 to remove WP chief Pritam Singh from the position, a week after a parliamentary motion found Mr Singh unsuitable for the role due to his criminal convictions for lying to the Committee of Privileges. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the Workers’ Party leadership stated that they were "unable to accept" the invitation to nominate another elected Member of Parliament to the post. The party emphasized that it has its own established processes for electing its internal leadership and expressed the view that the Leader of the Opposition should, by definition, be the leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament. The WP noted that while the LO role in Singapore is currently a discretionary appointment made by the Prime Mini...

  On January 17 2026, an autonomous vehicle operated by ComfortDelGro was involved in a collision with a road divider in Punggol. The incident took place at approximately 3:10 PM along Edgedale Plains while the vehicle was engaged in routine mapping and familiarization exercises. This specific vehicle is part of a trial that began on December 15 2025, aimed at calibrating sensors to local Singaporean road conditions in preparation for a wider public rollout. According to a statement from ComfortDelGro, the autonomous vehicle’s sensors detected a small object on the roadway and initiated a programmed response. In accordance with safety protocols, the on-board safety operator intervened to take manual control of the steering. However, during this manual takeover process, the vehicle collided with the road divider. Fortunately, there were no passengers inside the shuttle at the time of the accident, and the safety operator did not sustain any injuries. The Land Transport Authority (LT...

  A 17-year-old male was apprehended by the authorities on the night of January 16 2026, following a high-speed pursuit that spanned multiple residential and commercial districts. The incident, which began as a routine traffic check, escalated into a dangerous chase involving multiple collisions and a desperate attempt by the suspect to evade arrest on foot. At approximately 10:50 PM on January 16 2026, Traffic Police officers were conducting a routine patrol along Paya Lebar Road, specifically heading towards Upper Paya Lebar Road near the slip road into the PIE. They signalled for a silver hatchback to pull over for inspection. However, the driver refused to comply and accelerated away from the scene. Officers immediately gave chase, initiating a pursuit that would be captured in various segments by dashcams and members of the public. During the high-speed pursuit, the 17-year-old driver exhibited reckless behaviour, including speeding through the Geylang area. Viral footage uplo...

  On 15 January 2026, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that Mr Pritam Singh’s designation as the Leader of the Opposition (LO) has ceased with immediate effect. This significant political development follows a parliamentary vote held on 14 January 2026, where the House expressed regret over Mr Singh’s conduct and concluded that his criminal convictions and behavior rendered him unsuitable to continue in the role. The decision stems from Mr Singh’s conviction by the District Court on two counts of lying to the Committee of Privileges (COP). These convictions confirmed the initial findings of the COP regarding his testimony during the investigation into former Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan. Although Mr Singh appealed the decision, his appeal to the High Court was dismissed, making the legal outcome final and conclusive. During the parliamentary debate on 14 January, Mr Singh reiterated that while he accepted the Court’s judgment, he disagreed with the findings and maintaine...

  On January 14, 2026, a 63-year-old Malaysian man who is a Singapore permanent resident was fined RM9,000 (approximately S$2,850) by a magistrate’s court in Kulai, Johor. The sentencing follows a viral incident in which the man, Long Sa Kow, was filmed using black tape to partially cover the registration plate of his Singapore-registered vehicle to illegally purchase subsidised RON95 petrol. Long was charged under Section 108(3)(e) of the Road Transport Act for displaying a vehicle registration plate that did not belong to his vehicle. The charge falls under the broader category of furnishing false statements or registration. During the court proceedings before Magistrate R. Salini, Long pleaded guilty but initially raised objections regarding the specific wording of the charge. He argued that he had not "altered" or "changed" his physical plate. This led to a brief recess in the court session. When the proceedings resumed, the prosecution clarified that police inv...

  The Land Transport Authority announced on January 13, 2026, that 10 drivers were recently caught for providing illegal cross-border ride-hailing services. The arrests took place at land checkpoints and areas such as Bedok Reservoir, following enforcement efforts and tips from the National Private Hire Vehicles Association and the National Taxi Association. All 10 vehicles involved were impounded as a result. Since July 2025, the Land Transport Authority has checked more than 3,000 vehicles to ensure passenger safety and protect the livelihoods of licensed taxi and private hire drivers. Drivers who operate illegal ride-hailing services can be fined up to $3,000 and sentenced to up to six months in jail. Additionally, their vehicles may be subject to forfeiture. The authority reiterated that unlicensed services lack proper regulatory oversight and insurance, urging the public to report any illegal ride-hailing activities through the official government portal to help keep Singapore...

  On January 13, 2026, the Singapore courts sentenced 27-year-old Cheong Wee Kiat to four months and eight weeks of imprisonment for his involvement in a distressing case of criminal intimidation and computer misuse. The case, which involves the exploitation of bank accounts and a subsequent act of "punishment" that the prosecution described as unnatural and deeply humiliating, began with a desire for easy cash and ended in a violent, degrading confrontation. The legal troubles for Cheong started in March 2022 when his friend, identified in court documents as A1, expressed a desire to earn extra money. Cheong was aware that another individual, known as Tan, was actively seeking bank accounts in exchange for cash payments. Cheong acted as a middleman, introducing A1 to Tan with the understanding that A1 would open a bank account and relinquish control of it to Tan. Cheong was further motivated by the promise of a commission from Tan if the account remained operational for a si...

  On January 12, 2026, a 34-year-old man named Mohd Taufik Hashim was sentenced to a lengthy prison term following a violent encounter with law enforcement officers that took place in late 2024. Taufik pleaded guilty to a range of charges, including drug possession, refusing to provide a urine sample, and voluntarily causing hurt to public servants. The court handed down a primary sentence of seven years and five months of imprisonment, accompanied by six strokes of the cane. Furthermore, because he committed these crimes while under a remission order from a previous conviction, he received an additional enhanced sentence of 199 days in jail. The legal history of the accused played a significant role in the severity of the sentencing. In June 2020, Taufik had been sentenced to jail and caning for drug consumption. He was eventually released from prison in July 2023 and placed under a remission order. This order stipulated a basic condition that he must remain out of trouble for the...

  A massive 10-car chain collision occurred on the Tampines Expressway on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at approximately 4:55pm. the accident happened near the Punggol Road exit in the direction of the Seletar Expressway. Video footage of the scene showed a cluster of seven cars in a bumper-to-bumper pile-up, with three additional vehicles situated slightly ahead. In a highly unusual coincidence, eight of the 10 cars involved were identified as Mitsubishi Lancer models, with only two vehicles being of other makes. The Singapore Civil Defence Force confirmed that there were no injuries resulting from the multi-car crash. By the time Singapore Police Force officers arrived at the location, the involved vehicles had already departed the scene. Post-collision footage captured the drivers and passengers standing on the expressway as they managed the aftermath of the event. No further police action was required at the site once the expressway was cleared.

  On January 3, 2026, authorities at the Pasir Panjang Scanning Station seized 509kg of cannabis from a 20-foot inbound container. The operation was a success due to shared intelligence between Singapore Customs, the Central Narcotics Bureau, and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority. The container was initially flagged by the ICA Integrated Targeting Centre for enhanced checks. During the scanning process, ICA Image Analysts noticed anomalies, leading to a physical search where officers found a brownish substance in a box. Further inspection by the CNB revealed a total of 902 packets of cannabis. Investigations indicate that the drugs were intended to transit through Singapore to another country.  Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973, smuggling more than 500g of cannabis carries the death penalty. This massive bust highlights the effectiveness of Singapore's multi-agency approach and the use of advanced technology in securing the borders against international drug traffic...

  On the evening of January 9, 2026, a significant residential fire broke out in a Housing Board flat in Tampines, leading to a large-scale emergency response and the hospitalisation of a firefighter. The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the incident at Block 29 Tampines Street 86 at approximately 9:05pm. The fire originated within a unit located on the 15th floor of the block, creating a hazardous situation for residents and responders alike. Upon the arrival of the emergency teams, the fire was found to be concentrated in one of the bedrooms of the high-rise unit. At the time the blaze broke out, no one was inside the apartment, which meant that there were no civilian injuries reported within the affected home. However, because the unit was locked and heavily smoke-filled, the responding firefighters had to perform a forcible entry to gain access to the seat of the fire. Clad in full protective gear and breathing apparatus, the team entered the hazardous environment t...

  The Singapore legal system has signaled a significantly tougher stance on vaping-related offenses with the sentencing of Orison Toh Chun Kee on January 7 2026. The 29-year-old associate engineer was handed an eight-week jail term for the possession and offering for sale of 1,639 vape devices and pods. This sentence represents a massive departure from the one-week jail term and fine originally sought by the Health Sciences Authority. The prosecution revised its submission following a court directive in August 2025 to re-evaluate sentencing for all vape offenses, citing increased public interest and a shift in government policy. In the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stated that vaping would be treated as a drug issue, a stance reflected in this case. Toh was apprehended on September 3 2024 after HSA officers observed him collecting a large consignment of vapes. District Judge Terence Tay emphasized that delivery drivers act as critical interfaces in illicit operat...

  Nominated Member of Parliament-designate Dr Haresh Singaraju has addressed public concerns regarding his past political affiliations. Following his appointment announcement on January 2 2026, photos surfaced on online platforms like Reddit showing Dr Haresh wearing a People’s Action Party T-shirt during an activity in Tampines in September 2023. In a social media clarification on January 6 2026, Dr Haresh, who serves as a family physician at National University Polyclinics, confirmed that he is not currently a member of any political party. He explained that the images were from past volunteer work and that he had made his Instagram account public recently, leading him to archive certain photos to protect the privacy of others featured in them. While his LinkedIn profile indicated he has served as a grassroots leader since January 2023, Dr Haresh did not provide specific details on when his PAP membership ended. This incident has reignited a broader debate about the non-partisan ...