129 cases of murder, attempted murder, robbery, rioting & serious hurt involving knives in S'pore from Jan.-Nov. 2024

As of November 2024, there were 129 cases of murder, attempted murder, robbery, rioting and serious hurt involving knives in 2024, Minister of State for Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of Singapore Sun Xueling said in parliament on Jan. 7, 2025.

Sun was responding to questions from Members of Parliament Tan Wu Meng and Christopher De Souza about whether there has been a rise in knife attacks and what measures have been taken to tackle them.

This, she noted, was comparable to the number of cases in the preceding three years, with an average of 133 cases a year between 2021 and 2023.

Sun said that police officers are trained and equipped to deal with crimes involving knives, and will respond swiftly to neutralize the threat when alerted.

When there is information on specific threats or the general threat level is escalated, the police will step up security measures such as increasing the frequency of patrols, Sun added.

Guns, Explosives and Weapons Control Act

Sun said the Guns, Explosives, and Weapons Control Act (GEWCA) will be operational in the first half of 2025.

The GEWCA, first introduced in 2021, controls the handling of guns, gun accessories, explosives, explosive precursors, weapons and noxious substances.

To safeguard public safety, Sun said that MHA will also limit the sale of certain types of knives and similar offensive weapons that have limited legitimate use through the Arms and Explosives Act.

Sun said that MHA currently regulates the sale of six types of knives and offensive weapons: daggers, swords, spears, spearheads, bayonets and dangerous bows and arrows.

This list will be expanded, Sun said, to include flick knives and knuckledusters when the GEWCA is operationalised in the first half of 2025.

According to MHA's website, the GEWCA is targeted to be operationalised in February 2025.

The GEWCA was introduced in 2021 to tackle the threat of terrorism, keep up with technological changes like 3-D printing and drones that pose new challenges to law enforcement, and regulate a growing industry of Guns, Explosives and Weapons licensees.

St. Joseph's Church attack

None of the 129 cases that took place in 2024 occurred at a place of worship, with the sole exception of the knife attack at St Joseph's church in November 2024, Sun said.

A 37-year-old Singaporean Sinhalese man was arrested after a knife attack on a priest at St Joseph's Church at Upper Bukit Timah on Nov. 9, 2024.

The 37-year-old man was found to have a total of five weapons in his possession.

The incident occurred during the 5:30pm mass, and the man was subsequently subdued by members of the congregation, including the Archdiocesan Emergency Response team.

Sun emphasised the importance of "building up the resilience of our society to emergencies":

"While the incidence of crimes involving knives is low, it is important nevertheless that we all know how to respond when such attacks occur.

The November 2024 incident at St Joseph's church is a case in point. Two men helped subdue the attacker, while other members of the congregation provided first aid to the priest. Their actions prevented further casualties and minimized the injury to the priest, before the authorities arrived on the scene."

MHA works closely with community and religious organizations, including places of worship, through the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth's Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organisations (CPRO) programme, Sun said.

Through the programme, religious organisations participate in security self-assessments, develop contingency plans, and attend counter-terrorism seminars to understand the threat better, Sun explained.

Working with building owners and managers for security & safety

Sun said that police and the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) work with building owners and managers across Singapore via the Safety and Security Watch Group to conduct security audits, share best practices and deliver training on building safety and security awareness.

Sun added that exercises are regularly conducted to test contingency response plans and ground readiness in the event of emergencies.

Top photo from Canva.