SINGAPORE — A 21-year-old man was charged on Thursday (Sept 15) with possessing a knuckleduster and carrying a baton in a public place, among other alleged offences.

On Tuesday at around 2pm, Mohamed Danish Amsyar Ali Amran tried to evade police officers on foot patrol who wanted to conduct a check on him along Cheng Yan Place in Bugis. 

In a news release on Wednesday evening, the police said that Danish then ran away. He took out a retractable baton when the officers chased him but dropped it when an officer drew his taser.

He was arrested along Bencoolen Street. Necessary force was used to subdue him and a concealed knuckleduster was later found in his underwear, the police said.

No one was injured during the incident.

Danish now faces four charges. He allegedly failed to report back to Changi Prison Complex on Aug 4 for his work release scheme, which allows prisoners to be released for work purposes at the tail-end of their sentence.

Court documents did not state for what crime he was previously imprisoned.

That same day, he purportedly cut his electronic monitoring tag to evade arrest.

He was also charged with carrying the knuckleduster, which is a scheduled weapon, and charged with possessing the gold-coloured baton in public.

Danish was denied bail on Thursday after a police prosecutor argued that he was a flight risk. He told the court that he had some issues to settle relating to his house, family and fiancee.

The police said that Danish was arrested for suspected drug-related offences, but he was not handed any drug-related charges.

He will return to court on Sept 30 and has been remanded.

Anyone convicted of possessing a scheduled weapon can be jailed up to five years and given at least six strokes of the cane.

If convicted of carrying a truncheon in a public place, a person can be jailed up to a month or fined up to S$5,000 or punished with both.

The police said in their news release that they have zero tolerance towards brazen acts that threaten the safety of members of the public and will not hesitate to take action against those who blatantly disregard the law.