Man Who Discarded ‘Prison Tag’ in Grab Car Arrested; Had Tampered with the Tag Since 10 Oct


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Taxi drivers must find all sorts of things in their car after a long day’s work.

Keys, phones, food wrappers, and even a newborn baby.

So, when one Grab driver found a tiny black device in his car, he likely thought it was just another electronic gadget that was trendy.

Except it turned out to be a broken prison tag instead. 

Belonged to Someone On the Run

In a post on the Facebook Group, PHV Gojek/Grab ( Drivers & Riders SG ), the driver said he found a broken prison tag in his vehicle when he was looking for his petrol card, which he had misplaced.

Image: Facebook
Image: Facebook

It looked rather suspicious, so he decided to take it to the police station.

There, the driver had to wait three hours while the police called Singapore Prison Services (SPS), which had to check with another department.

While not many details were revealed, the driver said a cop told him in confidence that it belonged to an offender who was “on the run”.

Now, it seems that the escapee has been caught.

Fled From Release on Supervision (ROS) Regime

According to Mothershipthe runaway was a 23-year-old man who had absconded from his Release on Supervision (ROS) regime.

The ROS regime is part of Reformative Training (RT). In the supervision phase, offenders are expected to work, study, or perform community work under the guidance and supervision of Prisons Reintegration Officers until their release.

After the 23-year-old was released from the RT centre, he was ordered to serve an ROS, where offenders are subject to curfews and must wear an electronic tag so officers can monitor their whereabouts.

The tag can detect if an offender has tampered with the device, or violated his curfew.

On 10 Oct this year, SPS was alerted to a case of tampering of an electronic tag at 12.52am.

SPS tried to contact the man and his family, but to no avail.

So, they lodged a police report, and a police gazette was issued against the escapee.


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Over a week after the driver notified the police of the tampered tag in his car, officers managed to find the man, who was also involved in an unrelated case of unlicensed moneylending.

While he’ll be charged today (29 Oct) for harassment on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, investigations into the alleged tampering of his tag are ongoing.

Which means he could soon be served with yet another charge.

As a wise man once said: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.