When can you be arrested?
- You can be arrested by the Police or an enforcement agency such as the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
- The Police or enforcement agency can arrest you without obtaining the Court’s written permission (also known as a Warrant) if they have a reasonable suspicion that you have committed an arrestable offence and you need to be detained for investigations or to be produced in Court to be formally charged for committing an offence.
- Examples of arrestable offences are:
- Assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty
- Theft
- Cheating
- Criminal breach of trust
- Criminal intimidation
- Criminal trespass
- Dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property
- Extortion
- Robbery
- Rape
- Unlawful assembly
- Rioting
- Voluntarily causing grievous hurt
- Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means
- Wrongful confinement
- Wrongful restraint
- Sexual assault by penetration, without consent (including oral or anal sex)
- Commercial sex with minor under 18 years of age
- Doing obscene act or reciting obscene song in a public place
- Trafficking, possession or consumption of drugs
- Offences under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act (formerly named the Computer Misuse Act)
- Offences under the Vandalism Act
- The full list of arrestable offences is found in the First Schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code which may be accessed here.
- For all other offences (also known as non-arrestable offences), the Police or enforcement agency will generally need to obtain a Warrant (or written permission) from the Court before they can arrest you.
