Fresh video footage of the culprits who broke into SMRT’s Bishan Depot five years ago and vandalised a train carriage has turned up online.
The footage, part of a 12-episode video series to market a photo book by an American duo who called themselves “Utah and Ether”, showed three people crossing the canal at the Bishan SMRT depot at night and cutting a hole through the fence.
Two of them — with their faces covered — were filmed spray painting one of the trains in the depot with the words “jet setter’s” before escaping through the fence again.
The culprits behind the act on August 17, 2011 have never been identified or arrested. Media reports have identified “Utah and Ether” as Danielle Bremner and Jim Clay Harper, respectively. It is unclear, however, if they are behind the Bishan Depot break-in.
SMRT was fined S$200,000 by the Land Transport Authority in October 2011 for that security lapse. SMRT’s trains were vandalised in similar fashion in separate incidents in 2010 and 2014.
Shin Min Daily News reported on the footage of the Bishan Depot break-in on Thursday, though the video was first posted online on April 29 this year. When approached, SMRT said the issue was a police matter.
According to media reports in Australia and Hong Kong, Harper is in jail while Bremner is said to be on the run from the authorities. Harper was arrested in Melbourne on May 4 this year, after a man confronted him about defacing shops. He was jailed at the end of May for six months.
“The Singapore Police Force is aware of the arrest and is currently working with the Australian authorities to facilitate investigations into the case of vandalism reported at Bishan MRT depot in August 2011,” said the police in a statement.
Following Harper’s arrest, Bremner and another Australian graffiti artist went on the run from the Australian authorities for almost four weeks before boarding a plane and flying to Hong Kong, reported Australia’s The Age newspaper.
According to reports, Harper and Bremner were charged in 2008 for vandalising trains when they returned to the United States from Europe. They were to have been on probation for five years after their release.
However, they broke probation by boarding on a plane to India in 2011. Their book, which is sold on The Grifters website, purportedly documents their travels to 11 countries and 37 cities in Asia where they vandalised a number of subways.
Source: TODAY Online
