The postman who threw away some 30 to 40 unopened letters into the rubbish bin in Ang Mo Kio has been revealed to have special needs.

This was revealed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Tuesday, May 21.

Issued advisory

Investigations have since completed, IMDA said, and it was discovered the postman breached the Postal Services Act.

In light of this fact and the circumstances of the case, the postman has been issued an equivalent of a warning.

“In the course of its investigations, IMDA found that the postman involved is an individual with special needs and has expressed remorse for his actions,” IMDA said.

It added that the postman was “fully cooperative” during the investigations.

IMDA said: “In view of the facts and circumstances, IMDA decided to issue an advisory to the postman.”

A stern warning was issued to SingPost given that mail integrity and security had been compromised in the incident, IMDA added.

About the incident

The incident occurred in January 2019.

Photos posted on Facebook showed the unopened letters addressed to residents, some from government bodies, discarded in a rubbish bin.

The resident said mail had gone missing before.

Singapore Post (SingPost) said it referred the case to the police.

A 29-year-old postman was subsequently arrested.

Previous case

In February 2018, another SingPost postman was found to have thrown away returned letters and direct mail at a condominium.

He was caught by a member of the public who confronted the postman.

The postman then admitted to throwing the mail away and said he was tired and had been treated unfairly.

He subsequently left the country as he was a foreigner.