Man who smoked at airport but complained of ‘prejudiced enforcement’ told he was wrong in the first place

SINGAPORE: A TikTok video of a man who claimed that he had been treated unfairly by National Environment Agency (NEA) officers after he was caught smoking at Changi Airport Terminal 1 has been making the rounds online.

In the video posted by @thomassong on Aug 16, which has been viewed nearly 650,000 times, the man said that a male and female NEA officer, who are both Indian, let people from India go for the same offence, while he, a Chinese man, had been apprehended.

“Caught me, but they intentionally let off one Indian man and one Indian couple also smoking at the same time same place! Outrageously double standard!” he wrote in the caption to his video.

@thomasong220

Caught me but they intentionally let off one Indian man and one Indian couple also smoking at the same time same place! Outrageously double standard!

♬ original sound – thomasong220 – thomasong220

The female officer can be seen talking to her supervisor on the phone during the length of the video, while the post author attempts to interrupt her over and over again. The male officer, meanwhile, steps in so she can continue with her conversation.

“They let one Indian couple and one Indian man go without fining, and they catch me, a Chinese, for smoking, and they fine me, and now, they are talking that they can’t follow me to the police, because I want to lodge a report against them,” the post author says.

Moreover, he accused them of being racist and told them he would put up the whole encounter on social media, which he has since made good on.

Also, while some commenters on his post seemed to be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, they reminded him that he should not have been smoking in the first place.

“Whatever the case is, you are still in the wrong for smoking at the wrong place, no?” one asked.

To this, the post author replied, “Was fined just within a meter outside the yellow box. That place was badly lit at night. Hardly can see the yellow box. After seeing them letting go of the other three, I immediately demanded an explanation, but they refused to explain at all! I followed them into the terminal. Subsequently, they left by sky train. Kenna fined I admit, and will definitely pay! BUT this prejudiced enforcement cannot simply be condoned totally!”

Others, however, merely encouraged him to report the matter so that CCTV footage could be viewed by the authorities, if the incident really did occur. /TISG

Read also: Four teens suspected of smoking ‘zombie cigarettes’ seen collapsing and convulsing in Punggol