A local angler was angered at the treatment he received from several NParks officers.
The angler and his friend had ended their fishing session at Macritchie Reservoir when they decided to have lucnch at Upper Thomson. To get there, they took short-cut through a no-fishing zone, with their fishing gear in hand.
That's when their troubles began.
They were spotted and stopped by some NParks rangers who were friendly at first but whose demeanour changed when they found out that he wanted to cut-through the no-fishing zone. The rangers assumed that the anglers had fished in the no-fishing zone.
This was disputed by the anglers. However, one of the rangers had allegedly retorted that "I don't care! You're not allowed to have fishing equipment in my nature reserve".
The anglers pleaded that they were unaware of such a rule, pointing out that the signs only bars people from fishing. According to the angler, the rangers then turned aggressive so they refused to give their genuine particulars when they were asked.
The police were subsequently called in. The angler and his friend were reportedly handcuffed and arrested for more than 12 hours.
You can read the post here:
Yesterday i learned that we anglers cannot even carry our fishing equipment and walk in a no fishing zone, i was fishing at MacRitchie Reservoir legal ground with my friend yesterday and when we decided to have lunch at upper thomson. So we ended up cutting through the forest area to exit to Jalan Lembah Thomson for a shortcut, to get there we actually have to walk pass a no-fishing zone but little did i know that holding my fishing equipment and walking past that area was not allowed too as I stumbled upon 4 n park rangers and when they approached us they talked to us in a friendly manner but i explained to them that i wanted to cut through to exit infront for lunch they start to assume that i am fishing there. I DID NOT fish or neither did i cast my fishing rod so i told them to replay their cameras to see if I did fish but they started to surround us and shouted at us " I DON’T CARE! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE FISHING EQUIPMENT IN MY NATURE RESERVE " . I explained i did not know that it was illegal to carry fishing equipment in a no-fishing zone was illegal and the signboard only stated no fishing with a fine up to $3000 and not saying "no fishing equipment allowed"
And that was when the n park rangers started turning aggressive and keep asking for my particulars, if i was fishing in the no-fishing zone and they acted this way i would have obliged and give my particulars but i did not do anything to disobey the law stated but i was just passing by a no-fishing zone with my equipments.
Ps. This post is to spread awareness to all anglers to refrain from carrying your fishing equipment into a no-fishing zone as this incident really shocked me at how n park rangers actually jumped into conclusions even when i DID NOT fish. In the end i had no choice because the rangers kept on pressuring us and i had no choice. I admit it was my fault because i gave the n park a false particular and i wanted the police to come down and i can explain to them what was going on rather than getting slam with a fine for something I didn’t do. Long story short the police arrived and even after explaining to the police me and my friend were HANDCUFFED!!!!!! being brought back to be detained for more than 12 hours for something we had been accused of.
It would appear that the angler and his friend have been arrested over a trivial matter.
NParks need to be clearer with their no-fishing rules. It is disingeneous to penalise someone for carrying fishing equipment through a none-fishing zone but not actually fishing there.
They also need to train their rangers to better communicate and engage any possible trespassers/illegal anglers and not behave as hooligans as alleged by the angler.
