Three men accused of violating warnings to stay home after returning from Batam



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SINGAPORE: After returning to Singapore from Batam, Indonesia, three men were ordered to stay home for 14 days, but allegedly failed to comply with these orders in separate cases.

The three men, Quresh Singh Sandhu, Azhar Khamis and Zahari Samat, were charged in court under the Infectious Diseases Act or its regulations on Wednesday (May 13).


Quresh had returned to Singapore from the Indonesian island on March 17 and was ordered to stay at his Sembawang home from March 17 to 31.

However, he is accused of exposing others to the risk of infection as a contact for a COVID-19 case, by appearing in five public places, including three train stations and a hostel.

Instead of returning home on March 17, he is accused of taking public transportation to Marina Bay Sands, where he worked as a security officer, the Immigration and Control Authority (ICA) said in a statement.

The next day, he allegedly took public transportation to a hostel, Snooze Inn, on Dunlop Street, where he shared a room with three co-workers.

Between March 19-21, he continued to commute daily to work on public transportation, ICA said.

His alleged offenses were discovered when ICA officials visited his home in Sembawang on March 21 and found that he was not there.

Quresh will return to court to plead guilty to his one-time charge on May 27.

In the second case, Azhar arrived in Singapore on March 26 and was ordered to stay at home from March 26 to April 9.

But instead of returning to his home in his Tampines apartment, he allegedly spent the night at his sister’s home in Serangoon, ICA said.

He is also accused of appearing in public on the Harbourfront in late March and was found at the Singapore Cruise Center on April 5, after ICA officers went to his Tampines department to find him missing.

Azhar will return to court for a pre-trial conference on May 29.

The third man, Zahari, returned to Singapore from Batam on April 1 and received a notification to stay home from April 1 to 15.

However, instead of going to his declared home in Ang Mo Kio, he went to a rented address on North Bridge Road, ICA said.

He went to the ACI building on April 2 to tell them that he had provided an out-of-date address on his electronic health statement and that he intended to update the address where he would send his home stay notice.

ICA officials asked him to return to his rented flat on North Bridge Road immediately and to remain there at all times.

However, he left the department on April 8 and was arrested by officers from the Central Narcotics Office in a nearby outdoor parking lot.

Zahari was the only one of the three men to receive two charges instead of one, for each time he left North Bridge Road.

He will return to court to plead guilty on May 27.

Penalties for crimes under the Infectious Diseases Act and its regulations are a maximum period of six months in prison, a fine of up to S $ 10,000, or both.

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