SINGAPORE: A cleaner who chanced upon a toy grenade near the Istana placed it upright to see how the public would react to it.
For his threatening behaviour, 59-year-old Elankovan Marimuthu was fined S$4,500 on Wednesday (Jul 24).
The court heard that Elankovan's work involved cleaning Istana Park and the surrounding areas.
He was doing so at about 7am on Nov 3, 2017, when he came across a toy grenade lying on its side near a fire hydrant along Penang Lane.
He decided to position the grenade in an upright manner, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran, and used a pair of tongs to do so before leaving the scene.
He did this because he wanted to see how the public would react to the item once it was discovered, said the prosecutor.
At about 2.05pm that day, two motorists were at the junction of Penang Lane and Orchard Road when they noticed the toy grenade at the fire hydrant. One of them called the police.
The incident sparked a deployment of public resources. The police cordoned off the area after they arrived at the scene.
MORE THAN 40 OFFICERS DEPLOYED
A total of 39 officers were deployed from various units of the Singapore Police Force, along with eight members of the Singapore Armed Forces Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosive Defence Group and other police officers who swept the surrounding areas including Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.
Penang Lane was closed for half an hour and partially cordoned off to traffic for 45 minutes, while police advisories were disseminated to advise the public to stay clear of the area.
In this time, a number of phone calls were made to the police hotline complaining of traffic congestion in the area.
It was established at about 5pm that the item was a toy and Penang Lane was subsequently reopened. It is not known who placed the toy there in the first place.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...r-istana-fined-repositioning-cleaner-11748560
