PUBLISHED ONFebruary 22, 2024 7:48 AMByLim KeweiSome travellers crossing the border via the Woodlands land checkpoint on Thursday (Feb 22) found themselves stuck in a human traffic jam — unusual for a regular weekday morning.
News of the human congestion surfaced in one Telegram chat group which provides traffic updates for both land checkpoints.
"Bad jam at Woodlands customs, queue not moving from the front door," wrote a group member at 8.45am.
"SG custom system down," opined another chat member at around 9am, referring to the automated lanes at the land checkpoint.
One commuter caught in the jam told AsiaOne that she arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint at around 9.40am and found that the queue to clear immigration had reached the entrance of the departure hall.
"I was annoyed as I didn't think there would be a jam today since it's just a regular day, it's not a holiday nor the weekends," explained the 21-year-old, who only wanted to be known as W.
She added that the queue was moving, though it was "very slow".
"There were queue poles and there were officers asking us to queue, but it felt like a pasar malam.
"At some points the queue split and wasn't very orderly," she said, pointing out that some lanes were also reserved for travellers with children.
The traveller eventually cleared immigration at Woodlands Checkpoint some 30 minutes later.
Photos posted at 9.44am to a Facebook page providing cross-border updates showed that the queue had spilled out of the departure hall at the checkpoint.
In the comments section, several netizens said they found themselves in a similar situation, with one taking 40 minutes to clear customs.
Another video, which has since been deleted, showed a crowd waiting for their turn at the automated lanes inside the departure hall.
Similarly, travellers arriving in Singapore via the Woodlands land checkpoint on Thursday morning were also caught in a jam at the arrival hall.
A clip uploaded to Facebook by a commuter showed a crowd waiting at the bus bay of the arrival hall.
"It's completely packed downstairs, and the queue upstairs is not moving," commented a netizen under the post.
In response to AsiaOne’s queries, a spokesperson from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said a panic alarm was activated at around 8.30am at Woodlands Checkpoint.
ICA officers were then activated to conduct investigations.
“Clearance at unaffected zones was resumed at 8.35am, while clearance at the affected zone resumed at around 9am,” said the spokesperson.
It was established after investigations that there had been "no incident of concern".
“We seek the understanding and cooperation from travellers as we need to conduct thorough investigations into the cause of the alarm and mitigate the incident quickly.
“During the lockdown, operations would be ceased temporarily to ensure investigations are carried out smoothly without compromising public safety and security.”
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lim.kewei@asiaone.com