40 nabbed in 2018 for misusing boarding pass
She had entered the transit area in Changi Airport with no intention to depart Singapore.
On Jan 7, the police arrested a 38-year-old woman for misusing her boarding pass. She had entered the transit area to exchange an item, which her sister had bought from a shop in the transit area.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the police said that last year, they arrested 40 people for the misuse of boarding passes.
The post said: "The police would like to remind all passengers that the transit areas of Changi Airport are gazetted as Protected Places and passengers who enter the transit areas with a boarding pass should only be there for the purpose of travelling to their next destinations."
Those who misuse their boarding pass to enter into the transit areas, with no intention to proceed to their next destinations, are liable for an offence under the Infrastructure Protection Act.
The offender may be prosecuted in court and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.
The Changi Airport Group said: "This is a timely reminder from the police that the misuse of the boarding pass is a serious offence. Only passengers with the intention to travel should enter the airport's transit areas."
Some of the reasons individuals abuse the use of boarding passes include hoping to get a peek at their favourite celebrities, beat the queues to get the latest launch products or in hopes of evading the goods and services tax (GST).
According to The Straits Times, in 2017, a former research fellow at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) was fined $7,000 after he was convicted of two goods and services tax (GST) offences.
The Chinese national Bai Jiaming, 31, pleaded guilty to getting the help of his then colleague's father, Zhang Yaoqun, 61, to get a GST refund of $1,544 for a $23,600 Tiffany diamond ring bought by Bai.
He also admitted to getting a Prada bag and the ring from Zhang, after a GST refund of $1,792 had been claimed on the two items.
Bai was detained with the items when he tried to exit the Arrival North Transit Area of Terminal 3 at Changi Airport.
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