4th man charged over alleged link to Chinatown riot

Police have arrested a 13th man who is allegedly linked to last weekend's Chinatown brawl.

He was charged in a district court yesterday.

Muhammad Ilham Noordin, 18, is accused of being armed with a weapon while rioting on the 16th floor of the People's Park Centre apartment block in Upper Cross Street at around 3.30am on Sunday.

He is remanded at Central Police Division and will be back in court next Thursday.

The teenager is said to have ganged up with four men to cause hurt to five others.

His alleged accomplices are: Muhammad Roslan Mohamed Rumli, 29, Muhammad Syukri Muhammad Iskandar, whose age was not stated in court documents, as well as Muhammad Farid Surian and Noor Najat Alwi, both 20.

Farid, Noor and Roslan were each handed a similar charge on Thursday. They are also remanded at Central Police Division.

The members of the other group are said to be Mr Muhammed Shazryl Hykel Abdullah, Mr Muhamad Afiq Hilmi Mohamed Azmi, Mr Mohammad Zunnur Haq Abdullah, Mr Muhammad Syafie Abdul Razak and Mr Muhammad Fadli Ahnaf Tan.

A police spokesman told The Straits Times on Tuesday that according to preliminary investigations, the brawl took place following a relationship dispute over a woman.

The police were alerted to the riot on Sunday morning and arrested three people at the scene.

One of them, Mr Shazryl Hykel, 19, was injured and taken to Singapore General Hospital.

A video of the early morning incident, which was captured on closed-circuit television, shows two groups of people fighting along a corridor on the 16th storey of the apartment block.

The minute-long footage was widely shared on social media and WhatsApp group chats.

Nine more people - eight men and one woman - were later caught on Tuesday following a manhunt by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Central Police Division.

The nine people arrested are between 18 and 28 years old.

Offenders convicted of rioting while armed with deadly weapons can be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 16, 2020, with the headline 4th man charged over alleged link to Chinatown riot. Subscribe