ICA nabs suspected overstayer in HDB rooftop garden

ICA figures show overstayers make up most of the immigration offenders arrested here

- Zaihan Mohamed Yusof Senior Correspondent

Officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority questioning and searching the 27-year-old Sri Lankan man's bag at a rooftop garden at Block 574 Woodlands Drive 16 on April 8.

(LIANHE ZAOBAO)

The man was sleeping in a garden above an HDB multi-storey car-park in Woodlands when plainclothes officers surrounded him during a predawn operation on April 8.

The 11 officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had obtained information that the man, a 27-year-old Sri Lankan national, was an over-stayer with a social visit pass that had expired on June 28, 2025.

The suspect was spotted at Block 574 Woodlands Drive 16 with another foreigner.

Officers observed the two men for several hours and, after making sure all escape routes were blocked, arrested the suspect upon checking both their identities against ICA’s Mobile Automated Verification and Identification System.

Officers can conduct fingerprint and facial recognition biometrics screening using the handheld system.

The other man was released when he produced a valid work pass.

Overstayers accounted for most immigration offenders arrested in Singapore, according to ICA figures.

Of the 538 immigration offen ders arrested in 2025, 484 were overstayers and 54 were illegal immigrants.