S'pore probes NKorean car in brothel district crash

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Friday, 27 August 2010

AFP

A North Korean embassy vehicle crashed into a parked car in Singapore's brothel district and fled the scene, triggering a police investigation, local media reports said Friday.

A police statement said they were informed by a member of the public in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday that "an embassy car had hit a stationary car parked along Lorong 21 Geylang".

"No one was in the car, which suffered a slight dent at the rear. Investigations are ongoing," it added.

A police spokeman declined to name the embassy but a report in the Straits Times said the vehicle -- a silver Toyota -- displayed diplomatic plates and the North Korean flag.

Geylang is Singapore's red light district where prostitutes openly offer their services on pavements and in licensed brothels, with short-time motels scattered along the neighbourhood's narrow streets and lanes.

Witnesses quoted by the daily said they saw the vehicle's driver hurriedly reversing from the damaged car and almost hitting two female pedestrians before speeding off.

Calls to the North Korean embassy by AFP went unanswered on Friday.

The incident follows a fatal hit-and-run case involving a former Romanian diplomat, Silviu Ionescu, who allegedly rammed an embassy car into three pedestrians last December, killing one of them, after a drinking binge.

The Ionescu case caused a furore in the city-state, which demanded that he be brought to justice after fleeing Singapore.

He is currently in detention in Romania, and will face trial in October after strong diplomatic pressure from Singapore.

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