Three men charged with breaching stay-home notices after returning from Batam

SINGAPORE: After returning to Singapore from Batam, Indonesia, three men were ordered to stay home for 14 days, but they allegedly breached these orders in separate cases.

The three men - Quresh Singh Sandhu, Azhar Khamis and Zahari Samat - were charged in court under the Infectious Diseases Act or its regulations on Wednesday (May 13). 

Quresh had returned to Singapore from the Indonesian island on Mar 17 and was ordered to stay in his Sembawang home from Mar 17 to Mar 31.

However, he is accused of exposing others to the risk of infection as a contact of a COVID-19 case, by appearing in five public places including three train stations and a hostel.

Instead of heading home on Mar 17, he is accused of taking public transport to Marina Bay Sands, where he worked as a security officer, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement.

The next day, he allegedly took public transport to a hostel, Snooze Inn, at Dunlop Street, where he shared a room with three co-workers.

Between Mar 19 and Mar 21, he continued to commute daily to work on public transport, ICA said.

His alleged offences were uncovered when ICA officers visited his Sembawang home on Mar 21 and found that he was not there.

Quresh will return to court to plead guilty to his single charge on May 27.

In the second case, Azhar arrived in Singapore on Mar 26 and was ordered to stay home from Mar 26 to Apr 9.

But instead of heading home to his Tampines flat, he allegedly spent the night at his sister's home in Serangoon, said ICA.

He is also accused of appearing in public at Harbourfront in late March and was found at the Singapore Cruise Centre on Apr 5, after ICA officers went to his Tampines flat to find him missing.

Azhar will return to court for a pre-trial conference on May 29.

The third man, Zahari, returned to Singapore from Batam on Apr 1 and was given a stay-home notice from Apr 1 to Apr 15.

However, instead of going to his declared home in Ang Mo Kio, he went to a rented address in North Bridge Road, ICA said.

He went to the ICA building on Apr 2 to tell them that he had provided an outdated address in his electronic health declaration and intended to update the address where he would serve his stay-home notice.

ICA officers asked him to return to his North Bridge Road rented flat immediately and remain there at all times.

However, he left the flat on Apr 8 and was arrested by Central Narcotics Bureau officers at a nearby open air car park.

Zahari was the only one of the three men to receive two charges instead of one - for each time he left the North Bridge Road flat.

He will return to court to plead guilty on May 27.

The penalties for offences under the Infectious Diseases Act and its regulations are a maximum jail term of six months, a fine of up to S$10,000, or both.

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