1. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented major disruptions to our lives, including how we do our work. It has been more than two years since, and in spite of the challenges, the Home Team has remained steadfast in our mission to keep Singapore safe and secure. Today, we recognise the teams who exemplify this spirit and who have delivered outstanding outcomes in major operations and cases in the past year.
2. We also want to recognise and acknowledge our partners and stakeholders, whose strong support enabled us to achieve much better outcomes. These include other Government agencies, the private sector and the community. A total of 34 public agencies, 10 private entities and four foreign government agencies are part of this year’s award recipients. Let me elaborate on a few of these successful collaborations.
3. Even as we were dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Team was involved in a multi-agency initiative to safeguard the delivery of essential services. MHQ, SPF, SCDF, SPS and ICA worked closely with external agencies such as Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Health and agencies under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, agencies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and agencies under the Ministry of Transport, on ensuring that essential services that are integral to Singapore’s national survival could continue to be provided throughout peacetime and a National Emergency situation. Given the complexity of these challenging times, a national approach is important to ensure that these services are not compromised, and daily life can continue.
4. I also wanted to share a couple of examples of how the Home Team had collaborated with our foreign counterparts. The first is “Operation Princehorse.” This operation involved SPF’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). With the close cooperation between CAD and HKPF in the conduct of extensive joint investigations, five suspects were arrested in Hong Kong for their suspected involvement in several cases of online credit card fraud, amounting to more than HKD229,000 (equivalent to about SGD39,840), using stolen credit card information from victims in Singapore. We also saw successful joint operations between Malaysia’s Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) and CNB, against a group that used drones to smuggle drugs. I am truly heartened by these close collaboration by our international and regional counterparts.
5. Well done everyone! Congratulations to all recipients of the Home Team Achievement Award and Operational Excellence Award!
