Yishun knifepoint abduction: a stranger grabbed and dragged a woman in broad daylight

On the morning of 9 January 2023, Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Ariff, 43 — a repeat offender who had consumed methamphetamine — was seen walking around Yishun with a knife. At about 7.36am he grabbed a 60-year-old woman, a stranger to him, near Block 108 Yishun Ring Road and dragged her roughly 50 metres at knifepoint towards Block 110, where police subdued and arrested him by around 8.10am. The woman suffered a facial abrasion but was not cut. In the police car, Faizal hurled vulgarities at a 26-year-old officer and kneed him in the ribs. He pleaded guilty in May 2024 to abduction, drug consumption, harassment and assaulting a police officer, and on 30 July 2024 was sentenced to eight years and one month's jail and six strokes of the cane. A member of the public who helped police was singled out for commendation.