The police will be charging a 30-year-old man in court on Sep. 29, 2026 for his involvement in communicating false message and obstructing the course of justice.

According to a police news release, preliminary investigations revealed that the man had created an AI-generated image depicting a crocodile at Pandan Reservoir and sent it to his colleague.

The man subsequently deleted the image and the related application in an attempt to conceal his actions.

Public advised to exercise caution

On Aug. 20, 2026, national water agency PUB was notified that a crocodile had been sighted at Pandan Reservoir.

Members of the public were advised to exercise caution in the area while water activities at the reservoir were suspended, the police said.

PUB and the National Parks Board (NParks) also deployed resources to conduct search and capture operations in the area.

Subsequently, PUB discovered that the photograph provided in relation to the reported sighting was fake and the matter was referred to the police on Aug. 21.

Offence

The man will be charged with the offence of communicating false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act 1906 and obstructing the course of justice.

The offence of communicating false message carries a jail term of up to three years, a fine up to S$10,000, or both.

The offence of obstructing the course of justice carries a jail term of up to seven years, a fine, or both.

Police advisory

The police said they will not hesitate to take action against anyone who communicates falsehoods.

Apart from causing fear and inconvenience caused to members of the public, such falsehoods also result in public resources being unnecessarily deployed to deal with these incidents, the police said.

The police also urged the public to act responsibly and refrain from circulating false information or edited images that could cause unnecessary public alarm.

"The public should also not submit fabricated or manipulated information, including AI-generated or digitally altered images, to the police or other government agencies while presenting such information as authentic."

On Sep. 25, 2026, Mamun AL, 36, a Bangladeshi national, was sentenced to two years, ten months and five weeks' jail as well as two strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to four of nine charges, with the rest taken into consideration.

According to charge sheets seen by Mothership, his charges included theft, intentional assault, reckless conduct, and extortion.

Boarded taxi with beer bottle in hand

According to court documents, Mamun was drinking with his friends in Lorong 22, Geylang on the morning of Jan. 27, 2024.

He consumed a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of beer before flagging down a taxi and boarding it at about 6:15am.

He sat in the backseat whilst holding the glass beer bottle.

While the victim was driving, Mamun used the bottle to smash and break the rear windows of the taxi.

Mamun's actions were caught on the taxi's in-car camera.

The taxi driver stopped driving along Kallang Road upon hearing the sound of his rear windows being broken.

Punched windscreen before collapsing on road

The taxi driver stepped out of his taxi and realised both rear windows were broken, with glass fragments strewn across the taxi's interior.

Mamun got out of the taxi, and when the driver asked what happened, Mamun began shouting and ran to the front of the taxi.

Using the beer bottle and his fists, Mamun hit and punched the taxi's windscreen, causing it to crack.

Following this, Mamun collapsed onto the road and fell asleep.

At around 6:30am, the victim called the authorities and said in Mandarin: "They take glass bottle and smash my taxi they bang the car window."

Police officers arrived at the scene at around 7:25am and arrested Mamun.

Mamun was subsequently released on agency bail on Jan. 28, 2024.

Mamun's actions endangered the taxi driver's safety and caused the driver to incur repair costs totalling S$2,197.92.

No restitution was made.

Extorted man whilst on bail

Whilst on bail, Mamun and four accomplices extorted a man by falsely accusing him of stealing an electric scooter at the underpass of the Merdeka Bridge in Kallang on Feb. 12, 2024 at around 5pm.

Court documents noted that the men demanded S$1,000 from the victim as compensation.

The victim denied stealing the scooter and refused to pay the sum, resulting in an accomplice taking a bicycle lock and attacking the victim.

The five men threatened to hurt the victim unless he paid the sum; the victim denied their claims and was punched, kicked and attacked with the bicycle lock and a wooden stick.

According to court documents, the victim begged the five accused to stop attacking him but was told they would only stop if he paid them.

The victim eventually gave the five men around S$50 in cash, a bank debit card and his OPPO mobile phone.

Eventually, the victim was able to run away and call the police.

The victim sustained multiple bruises and was granted four days of outpatient medical leave.

During investigations, the only item recovered was the victim's phone, and no restitution was made.

Stole influencer's bicycle

On Feb. 15, 2026 sometime between 3:45am and 3:53am, Mamun stole influencer Royal Pek's silver-coloured "Broadman" bicycle valued at S$650 from an HDB bicycle rack in Geylang.

Court documents stated that Mamun stole the bicycle because he wanted to give it to his friend.

The bicycle was subsequently recovered and returned.

However, Mamun had tampered with the bicycle by replacing the handlebar and tyre with components he stole from other bicycles.

The prosecution urged that the court impose a sentence of at least two years, 10 months, and five to six weeks' imprisonment, a fine of S$1,000 and two strokes of the cane.

The prosecutors noted that Mamun was a "serial, habitual offender" with numerous offences from 2024 to 2026, with three of his charges committed on agency bail.

I will admit, I have been unsure about the benefits of AI.

At work, my colleagues and I mostly use AI for grammar checks and reviewing content.

While we definitely see its merits, beyond that, using AI for any further benefit feels like we need to spend more time figuring it out – time that unfortunately, we do not have because of our workload.

And it would seem that this is a prevalent sentiment among many SMEs. In the Singapore Business Federation’s National Business Survey 2025, nearly half of all firms surveyed cited lack of knowledge and expertise, as well as high costs of implementation with regard to adopting AI.

After all, it can feel overwhelming, having to think about how to make use of AI better, particularly if you are in a small business. Why should I be typing more prompts into AI, not when I have emails that need to be replied or messages to colleagues that need to be sent?

Plus, our usage with AI feels experimental and informal. Not all of my colleagues use AI, and some of them, such as my colleagues on the video team, would probably see it as a distraction from their daily job of editing and shooting videos for instance.

But all that being said, the few of us who do use it are cognisant of how there’s much more that can be achieved with AI. The question is: How do we go about it?

I was therefore excited when I was given the opportunity to attend Enterprise Singapore’s AI workshop titled “Turn Sales Data into Business Action”, hosted by GrabAcademy and OpenAI.

Using AI to cut down on your administrative work

As the workshop’s name suggests, it is primarily aimed at teaching attendees how to key better prompts into ChatGPT to make sense of their sales and cost data, create marketing visuals, organise workflows and even gain business insights.

The first thing that struck me upon starting the workshop was finding out that ChatGPT has a Work version. Specifically, a version that allows you to plug in Gmail, Google Drive and many other applications.

Suffice to say, when the first lesson in the workshop involved simply trying out ChatGPT, I ended up asking it to read my emails and update me on my timeline, as well as help me sort out my emails by deadline and client.

After some refining of my instructions, I found that it was able to do so with a very high degree of accuracy, much to my amazement.

If you have ever wondered how to cut down on your neverending pile of administrative work at the office, this is a tool you should definitely check out.

Small business owners might appreciate a means of being able to quickly see what their important emails are in the morning, and asking ChatGPT to help craft a reply so that they can focus on other more important matters.

And speaking of asking ChatGPT to craft something, being distracted in sorting out my emails with ChatGPT meant I had missed out the exercise for the workshop’s first lesson – getting ChatGPT to respond to a poor customer review, and asking it specific questions to improve the quality of the response.

If your business is a cafe for instance, you would probably appreciate the ease of having ChatGPT generate a reply for you, instead of having to work on crafting one entirely from scratch.

Talk about service recovery finally being made simple and convenient.

ChatGPT can also serve as a useful tool to guide your business analysis

For the next part of the workshop we were tasked with conducting business analysis with ChatGPT – researching trends, rent, competitors and locations with regard to setting up a cafe in Singapore.

For the sake of roleplaying, and to give an added challenge to the workshop’s exercise, I decided to ask ChatGPT these questions in relation to opening a cafe that serves insects in Bugis, with the aim of improving traffic on Tuesday and Thursday.

Impressively, it was able to give me an analysis that first broke down consumer trends, and provide its own hypothesis of what customers might be looking for.

It was also able to share which locations could serve as an ideal location for a new cafe and was even able to account for insects permitted under the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) framework.

On top of that it could even generate a table giving some rough estimates of the cost in setting up a cafe, broken down by item.

At the end of it all, ChatGPT was even able to generate a document detailing the next steps that should be taken, complete with what should be done to understand the prices of nearby competitors, to better price our own products.

At this point, we were taught how to input an important prompt into ChatGPT – to separate information from assumptions, given that it is prone to mix information with its own interpretation.

Another important prompt is to ask ChatGPT how it arrives at such numbers and to indicate its sources so that you can do your own verification.

Those of you who are actual cafe owners or aspiring entrepreneurs might appreciate how this can serve as a useful starting point in carrying out your own research and analysis into any new neighbourhood or consumer base for your own cafe, or even as a handy method in organising your own thoughts.

Running sales analysis

We were then brought to the third and last lesson of the workshop – carrying out analysis and generating images.

Again, I found myself amazed by how the tool was able to take the sample excel sheets we were provided with to give a breakdown of the cost and profit for the items sold in our sample “cafe”.

It was also able to create a new chart that showed a breakdown of the bestselling items per hour based on the information provided.

I then followed the instructions to get ChatGPT to re-engineer my menu and indicate my recommended next steps.

This included keeping Teh C as the default drink of choice in the Insect Explorer Breakfast Set, and retaining the traditional Kaya Butter Toast Set, while adding an optional side of cricket.

If you are someone who has always felt intimidated by spreadsheets for instance, because of the insurmountable wall of formulas and models, AI can definitely help you tremendously in this aspect.

You don’t have to worry about needing any special data analyst skills – all you need to do is to upload a set of data into ChatGPT and voila, you have a powerful tool that can help you make sense of your data and even present insights for you to work with.

Powerful practical daily applications

It was at this point that I realised – it’s not that difficult to use AI to get what you want after all.

Not only that, but the capabilities it provides are pretty handy – cutting down on your administrative work, providing business analysis and making sense of your sales data among many more things.

If you have to wear many hats at work, from sales to finance, because your business is modest, this is definitely one such AI tool you want by your side, given that it can help you save a tremendous amount of time in doing things like replying emails or generating excel sheets.

Getting better results for your business now no longer requires any special technical expertise; all you really need to do is to have an idea of what you want to know.

And even if you don’t have the clearest idea, AI can still serve as a useful starting point to begin your exploration and research for your learning process, or to help you solve any specific issue you might have.

Want to see how AI could help your business save time, reduce manual work and make better decisions?

Find out more about EnterpriseSG’s Driving Entrepreneurship with AI workshops here.

This sponsored article made the author decide to make ChatGPT an integral part of his daily work

A parent who was late to pick-up his child from a PCF Sparkletots childcare centre received a "Letter of First Reminder" informing him of the penalties for repeats.

While it was his first time receiving such a letter, the parent acknowledged that the policy was "fair" and said he was thankful as he was expecting to pay the late fee that day.

Letter of First Reminder

Going by @JimmyJ_Jin (Jimmy) on Instagram, the father uploaded an image of the letter to social media platform on Sep. 23.

Signed off by the centre's principal, the letter explained to parents that children who are picked up late "can get anxious", while teachers count on punctual pick-ups to "get home to their families and other obligations".

"Being on time significantly contributes to our teachers' job satisfaction and our children's happiness," the letter read.

It informed parents of a late pick-up fee of S$5 per child for every 15-minute block after the programme or centre's operating hours.

The fee, the letter further stated, is chargeable for "repeated occurrences" after the first reminder has been issued.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JimmyJ (@jimmyj_jin)

Was aware of late pick-up fee policy

The parent, a 31-year-old who identifies as content creator, shared with Mothership that he was aware of the late pick-up fee policy.

It was his first time receiving the letter since his son started at the school 1.5 years ago.

That day on Sep. 22, Jimmy encountered "super bad" traffic, which led to him being late.

He had informed the centre that he would be behind time, and was prepared to pay the late fee.

Instead, the parent was issued the Letter of First Reminder.

"The staff didn't tell me anything, as it was late and everybody [was] rushing, including the teachers," Jimmy said, adding that the letter had everything explained.

He described the policy as "fair" and "reasonable", and said it was "good system".

"I apologise to them for being late as well," he added.

Regarding his social media post, the parent explained that he was simply sharing about his experience.

He captioned his post with, "This is what you get if late to pick your kids."

The crying emoji he included was his reaction to being late, he explained.

Each situation reviewed based on circumstance: PCF Sparkletots

Responding to Mothership's queries, a PCF Sparkletots Preschool spokesperson said that they were aware of the matter.

"Our late pick up policy is intended to support the continued care and supervision of children who remain at the centre after operating hours," the spokesperson said.

"We recognise that unforeseen circumstances may arise, and parents are encouraged to contact the centre as soon as possible."

Each situation will be reviewed based on its circumstances and discussed directly with the family, the spokesperson added.

Jimmy's Instagram post has since received 180 comments, with most users opining that it is a fair policy to teachers.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) fire engine found itself stuck in a grass verge at Anchorvale Crescent on Sep. 24.

A video of the incident was posted on TikTok by user @mysteryboy252 two days ago.

The footage showed the fire engine on the grass patch, trying to wheel itself out. Its rear wheels apparently stuck in the ground.

Rear wheels sank into grass

In response to Mothership's queries, SCDF said its firefighters had just completed routine checks on the fire safety provisions at Block 338A Anchorvale Crescent at about 3:50pm on Sep. 24.

Upon leaving, the fire engine's rear wheels sank into a grass verge near the block.

“SCDF officers worked with a vehicle contractor to move the fire engine back onto firm ground, before driving it back to the fire station,” SCDF said.

SCDF added that it is reviewing the circumstances of the incident.

TikToker said fire engine was avoiding a car

The TikToker told Mothership that a white car had allegedly blocked the fire engine's path as it was leaving.

According to the Tiktoker, the fire engine had driven onto the grass while trying to avoid the car, and subsequently became stuck in the wet ground.

SCDF did not mention the car in its response to Mothership's queries.

The TikToker added that the affected grass patch was subsequently covered.

@mysteryboy252 @Mothership #viraltik#viraltiktok #fire ♬ original sound - 🎱

A 32-year-old Malaysian man and a 41-year-old Singaporean man were arrested for alleged drug offences on Sep. 23, 2026.

Malaysian arrested

The Malaysian man was arrested at Tuas Checkpoint on Sep. 23, 2026 for trying to smuggle heroin and other drugs in a Malaysia-registered motorcycle.

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers referred the motorcycle for enhanced checks.

Officers uncovered sealed packets labelled as commercial biscuits in the rear box of the motorcycle.

The contents were suspected to be controlled drugs.

Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers were immediately alerted.

Further checks uncovered more similar sealed packets.

A total of about 6,961g of heroin, 1,116g of "Ice" and 1,032g of cannabis, weighing about 9kg, were seized from the motorcycle.

Singaporean arrested

Through follow-up investigations, CNB officers launched an operation in the vicinity of Tampines Street 83 on the same day and the Singaporean man was arrested for suspected drug offences.

CNB officers conducted a search at his residence.

A total of about 790g of heroin, 602g of cannabis, 127g of "Ice", 51g of "Ecstasy" tablets and 21g of ketamine, weighing about 1.6kg, were seized from the man and the unit.

Cash amounting to S$33,086 was also seized.

The drugs seized have an estimated worth of more than S$1 million.

The heroin, "Ice" and cannabis seized could potentially feed the addiction of about 4,598 abusers for a week.

Investigations are ongoing.

Those who import into or export from Singapore more than 15g of diamorphine or “pure heroin”, or more than 250g of methamphetamine, or more than 500g of cannabis may face the death penalty.

UPDATE on Sep. 29, 11am: The article has been updated with Grab's statement.

A GrabFood delivery rider allegedly received a GrabExpress job to dispose of a customer's rubbish and was paid S$4 for the trip.

Four large trash bags left outside the flat

The incident came to public attention after an anonymous user posted about it in the Facebook group Complaint Singapore on Sep. 25, 2026.

The user, who claimed to be GrabFood delivery rider, alleged that he was assigned a job to collect and dispose of rubbish from a customer’s home.

He questioned whether such a request was permitted, and said that if he had rejected the job, his ratings would have been affected.

A photo accompanying the post showed four large black rubbish bags placed outside a flat.

The rider also shared screenshots from his Grab application showing that the flat was located in the Joo Seng area.

According to the screenshots, the rider was paid S$4 for completing the job.

In the booking notes, the customer instructed the rider to throw all the bags into the garbage disposal area downstairs.

The instructions read: "Remove (throw) all the bags at doorstep to downstairs rubbish chute for disposal (Many bulky bags)."

Customer had used GrabExpress

Based on the booking details, it appears the customer had used GrabExpress, Grab’s on-demand courier service.

According to Grab’s website, the service allows the delivery of items such as parcels, documents, clothing and food, while excluding items including hazardous materials, valuables, and certain perishable goods.

The full list of permitted and prohibited items can viewed on Grab's website here.

The service terms do not specifically state whether household rubbish or waste disposal is an accepted use of GrabExpress.

In response to Mothership's queries, a Grab spokesperson said the company is aware of the incident.

The spokesperson said GrabExpress is a courier service intended strictly for transporting documents, parcels, and personal and retail goods.

"Waste management usually requires specific safety protocols, handling procedures, and licences that fall outside the scope of our courier service", said the spokesperson.

Grab urged users to use its services only for their intended purposes, adding that delivery partners are empowered to decline requests that do not comply with its terms without penalty.

The spokesperson added that users and delivery partners who encounter misuse of the service are encouraged to report it through the in-app Help Centre, so that Grab can investigate and provide support.

Thailand has declared a two-day holiday for civil servants from Sep. 28 to 29.

According to Reuters, the Thai cabinet approved the special holidays for Bangkok and three surrounding provinces — Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, and Samut Prakan — due to heavy rainfall and flooding.

The Thai government said that it is part of measures to reduce travel and mitigate traffic disruptions for the public, though it added that important business may still be conducted as deemed appropriate.

The inundated capital was declared a "disaster zone" on Sep. 26, as heavy rains left cars partially submerged and led residents to hoard essentials.

Though floodwaters began to recede on Sep. 27, some residents are still stranded at home.

Reuters reported that the civil service holiday could have interfered with the reading of a verdict by the Thai Constitutional Court, in a case raised by the country's ombudsman relating to ballots used in Thailand's elections in February.

However, the court said that the reading would continue as planned.

Malaysian actress and singer Bella Astillah said she was not actively looking for a new partner until her fiancé, Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, came into her life.

Instead, after going through difficulties in her previous marriage, the 32-year-old said she wanted to focus on her career, parents, and children.

Speaking on a podcast with Indonesian preacher Oki Setiana Dewi, Bella said: "I wasn't looking, I wasn't planning for a relationship."

She added that she had focused on earning money, making her parents happy, and spending time with her children.

During a period when she was feeling down, Bella sought solace by drawing closer to God and performing the umrah pilgrimage without thinking about finding another partner.

Prayed for happiness

Bella said she prayed to God to grant her happiness after everything she had gone through, adding that she was "tired of feeling sad and hurt".

She then spoke about Syed Saddiq, explaining that his acceptance of her children was one of the main reasons she was drawn to him.

She said her children were comfortable with Syed Saddiq and that she was also touched by the way he respected her parents and cared for his own.

Bella added that God had given her more than what she had prayed for.

Doesn't want past trauma to affect new relationship

Bella also reflected on the trauma that can remain after a failed marriage, saying it should not be carried into another relationship.

“Whatever old wounds we have are actually our own responsibility, without having to involve someone else,” she said.

Bella described her relationship with Syed Saddiq as a second chance at happiness.

While Bella admitted she sometimes feared losing her newfound happiness, she said she was grateful to have an understanding partner who prioritised her children and hoped they could face future challenges together.

Getting married on Oct. 10

Bella and Syed Saddiq are set to marry on Oct. 10 at Menara Merdeka Maybank, the tallest building in Malaysia.

The pair grew close in 2025 and became engaged on Mar. 28, 2026.

A 66-year-old tourist from Singapore reportedly died in Italy on Sep. 16.

The death was reported by Italian media La Sicilia, a daily newspaper based in Catania, Italy.

The paper stated that the tourist died in Rifugio Sapienza, a hotel on Mount Etna.

Alleged presence of carbon monoxide

Following this, firefighters reportedly detected the presence of carbon monoxide in the room.

Several guests at the hotel were reportedly affected by carbon monoxide poisoning, with prosecutors intending to determine the source of the carbon monoxide leak.

The facility is also said to be under preventive seizure with the case being coordinated by a prosecutor.

According to news website CanaleSicilia, the legal representative of the hotel has been placed under investigation.

Investigation

CanaleSicilia reported that two cases were opened by the Prosecutor's Office — manslaughter and negligent assault.

Following this, an autopsy was scheduled to be performed on Sep. 25 at a university hospital morgue.

Investigations by the fire brigade also revealed that the leak could be linked to a malfunctioning LPG boiler below the affected bedrooms.