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SINGAPORE: After the Land Transportation Authority (LTA) announced a ban on electric scooters on sidewalks, a foodpanda deliveryman sent a message to a chat group calling for a riot.
Benny Mok Swee Tian, 35, received eight weeks in jail and a fine of S $ 500 on Friday (October 30) after pleading guilty to one count of communicating incitement to violence and robbery.
Mok was a food delivery boy at the time of the crime and was in two foodpanda passenger chat groups on Telegram, with over 6,000 total members on both chats.
On December 30 last year, Mok messaged one of the chats with various typographical errors, calling for a “PMD riot” the following night and asking people to gather at 9 pm in Punggol Park.
He later sent another message to the other chat group, saying, “Ya. Bring parang. Look at people just punch and cut people. Swee bo?”
The messages were sent one day before the end of the warning period for electric scooter users to comply with the curb ban.
READ: Electric scooters will be banned from Singapore trails from November 5
One person in both chat groups saw Mok’s messages and filed a police report because he was concerned about possible violence.
Mok was arrested and admitted to sending the messages while at Hougang Mall.
The police resources were sent to Punggol Park on December 31 last year, but there were no violent incidents.
Mok also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of stealing five comic books worth S $ 36.87 from Kinokuniya in August last year.
The prosecution sought at least two months in jail, while the defense asked for a lesser prison sentence, saying their client was fairly new to the Telegram group and did not have a high level of influence there.
READ: The government’s top priority is restoring safety to pedestrians on sidewalks: Lam Pin Min
The comments he made would carry little weight, the lawyer said, adding that many other members were making “frivolous comments without taking responsibility for them.”
For communicating incitement to violence, Mok could have been imprisoned for up to five years, fined, or both. For theft, he could have been jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
