3 people arrested for trying to enter S'pore illegally via sea off Changi at night

Night-vision technology makes night as clear as day.

Belmont Lay | January 15, 2020, 10:13 AM

Three foreigners were intercepted and caught at sea by the Police Coast Guard on Sunday evening, Jan. 12, 2020.

A 44-year-old Indonesian man, a 41-year-old Indonesian woman and a 39-year-old Malaysian man were arrested by coast guards for unlawful entry into Singapore, the Singapore Police Force said on Monday.

They were subsequently charged in court on Tuesday, Jan. 14 with illegal entry into Singapore.

The trio were arrested for entering Singapore unlawfully under the Immigration Act.

The Malaysian man is also being investigated for engaging in the business or trade of conveying illegal immigrants to Singapore.

A video of the police coast guard in action to intercept the illegal entry can be viewed here (via Singapore Police Force):

What happened

A fiberglass boat which had no identification numbers was detected at about 9.15pm on Sunday by coast guards off the coast of Changi at the sea off Eastern Buoy.

Two persons were spotted jumping off the boat.

The third person remained on board.

Not long after, the man who had jumped into the waters was seen to have swum back to the boat, the police said.

The Singapore coast guards intercepted the boat and arrested the two Indonesians on board.

The Malaysian man was believed to have been the boatman.

He was arrested in the vicinity of the sea off Eastern Buoy.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the Malaysian man had steered the boat to bring the two Indonesians to enter Malaysia illegally to seek employment, the police said.