THOUSANDS OF MOVING PARTS
The bomb was discovered on Sep 20 at the construction site for the upcoming Myst condominium. Explosive experts from the Singapore Armed Forces determined that the bomb had to be detonated onsite.
SPF’s then deployed a drone to map out the affected area and its immediate surroundings.
The authorities assessed that all residents and businesses within a 200m radius had to be evacuated. These amounted to thousands of individuals from condominiums The Linear, Hazel Park, Bukit 828 and Hazel Park Terrace; housing block 154 at Gangsa Road; shophouses along Upper Bukit Timah Road; and Greenridge Secondary School.
Traffic also had to be diverted from Upper Bukit Timah Road while the operation was carried out.
“Certainly the thing that was foremost on my mind was that the ordnance would … go off before we could conduct the evacuation,” said AC Tan.
“And so that really drove home the urgency and the seriousness of the operation to all our officers, and that’s something that we tried to communicate as best we could to the residents.”
Officers were dispatched to invite affected people to townhall sessions on Sep 24, where they were told what to expect.
“A lot of the residents, this is something very new for them, not something they will encounter on a day-to-day basis,” said AC Tan.
“So it probably took quite (some) effort by our officers to engage them, convince them of the seriousness of the matter that they had to evacuate because, frankly, this sort of thing doesn’t happen often in Singapore.”
Those who missed the townhall were approached by police through door-to-door visits.
In a twist, officers found their outreach efforts slightly hampered by heightened attention to scams: Some sceptical residents believed the police notices were a fraud.
“Indeed, there were a number of calls to 999, to Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood Police Centre about whether this is a legitimate notice, and I got a few from concerned friends and family as well,” said AC Tan.
“That’s a good thing because we know we’ve been educating the public on scams and telling everyone to be mindful and vigilant and not trusting immediately everything that you see.”
