Postman in AMK Arrested After FB User Posted Images of Discarded Sealed Mails

It’s common for sellers in e-commerce shops to say this: “We’re not responsible for any lost mails. You might want to opt for registered mail to ensure that you receive your parcel.”

It’s almost like losing a mail (or a parcel) is an everyday occurrence.

But apparently, it is. If you live in Singapore long enough, you’d have experienced this at least once in your life.

And we understand. With three million mail items to process a day, one or two missing mails due to a careless mistake is human.

But when it’s done on purpose, it’s no longer just a careless mistake that resulted in a lost mail: it’s a deliberate action to cheat, and of course the Police has to be involved.

Facebook User’s Discovery

Yesterday night, Facebook user Alyce Kathlyn made a disturbing discovery: she found almost 30 to 40 unopened letters in a rubbish bin (or several rubbish bins) in Ang Mo Kio. These letters aren’t junk flyers but important mails like letters from the Government or LTA.

There’s even a parcel as well.

What’s even more shocking is that the mails were found in Ang Mo Kio, and the addressees were all from Ang Mo Kio. Not sure whether the alleged postman is incredibly stupid, or incredibly smart (the most dangerous place is the safest).

The post garnered well over 7.5K Shares, and with many media outlets reporting about it, SingPost then posted an update.

According to them, they dispatched a team over to the area immediately to search “every bin”. They did not find any more discarded mails and couldn’t find the mails that the Facebook user has mentioned.

They then contacted the user who, back then, hadn’t replied, and also interviewed the postman who was responsible for the area.

And at 3:45 p.m., they posted a new update:

Lest you can’t read:

Following the findings from internal investigations, we have referred the case to the Police. The postman serving the affected areas was arrested in relation to the case.

As Police investigations are ongoing, we are unable to comment further, but would like to thank Facebook user Alyce Kathlyn for highlighting this case, and allowing us to look into this.

SingPost unreservedly apologises to the residents of the following blocks:

1. Blks 612-619 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
2. Blks 175-178 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
3. Blks 179-182 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
4. Blk 611 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5

Should residents of the affected blocks require assistance on their mail items, or are aware of any other incidents of discarded mail, they can call our dedicated hotline at 6845 6222, from 9am to 9pm on weekdays.

SingPost does not tolerate any mishandling or misappropriation of mail. Any postman found to have committed such offences will be disciplined, and, where applicable, dealt with by the full extent of the law.

Now, why is this important?

Because previously, when there was a hoo-ha about postmen allegedly delivering collection slips instead of parcels so as to save time, they had not apologised (and did not even address it in Facebook) in their statements.

It was only on 14 January 2019 that they suddenly made an open apology for their “service failures”, and again on 25 January, promising a “change” (do note that no big issues were raised during this period).

Postman Arrested

According to reports, a 29-year-old man has been arrested for “theft”.

The Facebook user, in a Channel NewsAsia interview, revealed that it wasn’t the first time this has happened: she has seen mails “dumped twice in six months”.

Her neighbour, who has lived there for 30 years, added that he experienced lost mails since last year.

Another SingPost Postman Caught Doing the same thing & Fired Last Year

Somewhere around this period last year, a postman was required to slot direct mailers (i.e. flyers) in a condominium. A man confronted him and the postman admitted to throwing the mails away, and then blabbered about how he was mistreated by SingPost and how tired he was.

He was then fired. SingPost also had to clarify that he wasn’t mistreated.

Earlier this year, a slightly similar incident occurred: a SingPost postman was caught not delivering the direct mailers, though no one found the discarded mails. A police report was made and “disciplinary action (was) taken against offenders.”

By the way, back then, there was no…unreserved apology.

Well, this could be the change they’re talking about.