SINGAPORE: Delays are expected at all Singapore checkpoints from Sep 9 to Sep 14, as authorities step up checks because of the “heightened security situation in the region”.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) did not specify what this referred to while making the announcement in a Facebook post on Sunday (Sep 8).
Arriving travellers at land, air and sea checkpoints will undergo “enhanced security checks” and they should factor in extra time for immigration clearance, said ICA.
Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Singapore from Sep 11 to Sep 13 for the final leg of his Asia Pacific tour.
During his stop in Indonesia earlier in the week, police arrested seven people for allegedly making “terror threats” online against the 87-year-old Catholic leader.
The suspects were nabbed in cities around the capital Jakarta, and the provinces of West Sumatra and Bangka Belitung.
They were accused of posting statements and images online that threatened bomb attacks on the pope’s public meetings in Jakarta.
Pope Francis is currently halfway through his 12-day trip, the longest and farthest of his tenure so far.
On Sunday, he led an open-air mass for an estimated 35,000 people in Papua New Guinea. His next stop is the Catholic-majority Timor Leste, before heading to Singapore for two days later in the week.
