Jail for 2 passengers who were in car that crashed at Tuas Checkpoint during police chase

SINGAPORE: Two passengers who were in a car that crashed when it tried to dash through Tuas Checkpoint last month were jailed for five weeks on Thursday (May 4).

Chinese national Chen Songqing, 35, and Vietnamese national Ho Thi My Nhung, 31, each pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal trespass. Both had another charge of failing to present a valid travel document considered for sentencing.

An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was injured in the incident at Tuas Checkpoint on Apr 8, which triggered a lockdown of the entire complex.

The driver of the car, 46-year-old Singaporean Teo Thiam Leng, faces a charge each of dangerous driving and abetting the importation of methamphetamine in 2016. He is set to return to court next week.

Teo was wanted by the police and Central Narcotics Bureau at the time of the incident, the ICA previously said.

The court heard that Teo had an outstanding drug offence in Singapore and absconded to Malaysia in 2017, where he was also involved in drug-related offences.

At about 2am on Apr 8, Teo was driving a Malaysia-registered car in Malaysia with Chen and Ho in the back seat. They were headed to Chen's home in Malaysia.

While driving, Teo spotted a Malaysian police car with its blinkers on, and assumed that it wanted to arrest him. He decided to drive quickly to get away from the police car.

Teo sped away, and the police car gave chase. Chen and Ho told him to stop, but he continued to drive all the way to the Malaysian checkpoint.

There, he dashed through Malaysia's toll and checkpoint counters. He then sped towards Singapore with the police car continuing to give chase behind him.

Teo continued to drive quickly towards the motorcycle arrival zone at Tuas Checkpoint.

At about 2.15am, three officers at the entrance signalled for Teo to stop his car as the area was only for motorcycles.

Teo instead dashed through the entrance. One of the officers had to quickly move out of the way to avoid being hit by the car.

Teo continued speeding into the motorcycle arrival zone, where he crashed into one of the drop-arm barriers. ICA officers rushed towards him, shouted at him to stop and tried to contain the car.

However, Teo continued to drive dangerously back and forth, crashing into metal barriers and structures inside the arrival zone.

Chen and Ho got out of the car and were instructed by an ICA officer to stay put by the side where it was safer. However, Teo suddenly reversed his car towards the officer, who fell down.

At this point, Chen and Ho decided to escape from the scene as they did not want to get into trouble with Singaporean authorities, according to court documents.

As they ran away, the ICA officer who had fallen down could not chase after them, while other officers remained focused on containing Teo's vehicle, which posed an immediate danger to security.

They jumped off a parapet at the motorcycle arrival zone and went towards a cargo arrival zone that was restricted to cargo vehicles only.

"Chen and Ho knew that they should not enter the area without permission, as there were metal barriers at the area and there were numerous cargo vehicles there awaiting clearance," stated court documents.

Both committed criminal trespass by entering the cargo arrival zone. They continued walking inside while trying to evade detection.

As the entire complex was on lockdown by then, the officers stationed at the cargo arrival zone were on high alert. They spotted Chen and Ho walking around and shouted at them to stop.

Chen and Ho stopped trying to escape and were arrested. Teo was also separately detained.

As a result of the incident, Tuas Checkpoint Complex was under lockdown for almost 40 minutes, during which officers were on high alert and traffic could not proceed.

More than 15 law enforcement officers were activated to attend to the incident, including patrolling and reviewing CCTV footage to ensure all those involved were arrested.

The Police Coast Guard was also activated to conduct a sweep of the sea off Tuas Checkpoint to ensure there were no other people trying to enter by sea, according to court documents.

The punishment for criminal trespass is jail for up to three months, a fine of up to S$1,500 or both.