Tourist spots 'dodgy' transaction involving rubbish bin at Jalan Besar, asks Singaporeans what's going on

A tourist from England was left puzzled after witnessing what he believed was a "dodgy" transaction in Jalan Besar, prompting him to film the encounter and ask netizens what was going on.

But while some speculated about what was being exchanged, others told him to mind his own business.

In a 62-second video shared on Instagram by travel vloggers Ryan and Katie, who run the account rkbackpacking, Ryan describes seeing a woman discreetly slipping money into the hands of a man.

"Some Asian lady walked up to an Indian man, slid him some money. He walked ahead real shifty-like, palmed it to his mate, and then his mate pulled open a bin and pulled out a little red plastic bag of something," says Ryan.

"That is weird. Is that like? Should we ask? What was it? Something dodgy is going down in Singapore...Can someone explain what?" he asks.

The video shows the woman slipping money to a man, who then walks ahead of her. However, it does not show the handover of money between the men.

When the video resumes, the woman is seen approaching a public rubbish bin, where another man opens the lid as she stops beside it.

The red plastic bag Ryan describes is not visible in the video.

Ryan says he later tried to get a closer look inside the bin, but "all I got was extremely dirty looks".

"Surely not a drug deal?" he asks.

"Surely not," Katie replies.

"Can someone please tell me what it is? I'm so curious," Ryan says as the video ends.

The video, shared on Oct 9, has racked up more than 259,000 views, 3,700 likes and 315 comments.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ryan & Katie (@rkbackpacking)

A post shared by Ryan & Katie (@rkbackpacking)

'Completely the opposite of our impression of Singapore'

Speaking to Stomp, Ryan said the couple spent three days in Singapore but did not make a police report because they were unsure what they had seen.

"It could have been anything," he said.

Nevertheless, the encounter surprised them, given Singapore's reputation for strict laws.

"It was surprising to see that in Singapore, a country that has a lot of rules and fines for those who break them," said Ryan. "It was completely the opposite of our impression of Singapore."

However, the incident did not dampen their enjoyment of the trip.

"We had a really good time, more than we expected, actually. And no, we didn't see anything else after that," he added.

Netizens debate the incident and Singapore laws

Netizens offered various theories about the transaction, with the most popular suggestion being that the woman had bought contraband cigarettes.

"The lady bought smuggled cigarettes," one claimed, adding that they cost about 60 per cent less than duty-paid cigarettes sold in shops.

Others suggested that the bag could have contained vapes, which are banned in Singapore, or even drugs.

Several speculated that it could have been Hans Chaap, a type of smokeless chewing tobacco from India that is prohibited in Singapore.

Some offered less serious suggestions, joking that the woman was buying chewing gum.

"Chewing game smugglers...lol," one said in jest.

Just enjoy your travels: Netizens

Not everyone appreciated the couple's curiosity.

Several netizens pointed out that they were potentially getting the people in the video into trouble.

"Mind your own business and enjoy your travels. Not everything you see needs to become content," one Instagram user commented.

"Stop snitching, mate," another said.

"You were not under threat; there was no reason to show others in a bad light," a third wrote.

Another asked: "Just do your stuff man. Are they bothering you?"

Ryan and Katie defended their decision to share the video.

"We literally just show what we see, had it not happened in front of us, we wouldn't have shown it. We are travel vloggers, it's what we do."

Others came to their defence, arguing that they were simply discussing something they had witnessed.

"Whether they were bothering the vloggers personally isn't the point. They simply documented something unusual that happened right in front of them while filming their travels," one said.

"They didn't manufacture the situation or claim to know the full story - they showed what they saw and people can draw their own conclusions."

Another agreed: "People are acting like they went out looking for drama. They're travel vloggers, and something unusual happened right in front of them while they were filming. Showing what they genuinely witnessed isn't the same as deliberately trying to expose someone."

Others thanked them for highlighting the incident.

"Why are people saying MYOB?" one Instagram user asked.

"Thank you for your video, we welcome all, except those who want to break the rules," another wrote.

Stomp has reached out to the police for comment.

一名来自英国的游客在惹兰勿刹目睹了一起他认为是“可疑的”交易后感到困惑，于是他拍摄了这段经历，并向网友询问发生了什么事。

但当一些人猜测他们之间交换了什么时，另一些人则告诉他不要多管闲事。

旅行博主 Ryan 和 Katie 在 Instagram 上分享了一段 62 秒的视频，他们的账号是 rkbackpacking。视频中，Ryan 描述了他看到一名女子悄悄地把钱塞进一名男子的手里。

“一个亚洲女人走到一个印度男人面前，塞给他一些钱。他鬼鬼祟祟地往前走，把钱塞给他的同伴，然后他的同伴拉开一个垃圾桶，掏出一个小红塑料袋，里面装着什么东西，”瑞恩说。

“真奇怪。这是怎么回事？我们要不要问问？到底是怎么回事？新加坡那边肯定发生了什么可疑的事情……有人能解释一下吗？”他问道。

视频显示，一名女子将钱塞给一名男子，男子随后走在她前面。但视频并未显示两名男子之间进行金钱交易的画面。

视频继续播放时，可以看到这名女子走向一个公共垃圾桶，当她停在垃圾桶旁时，另一名男子打开了桶盖。

瑞安所描述的红色塑料袋在视频中并没有出现。

瑞恩说，他后来试图近距离查看垃圾桶内部，但“我只得到了极其鄙夷的眼神”。

“肯定不是毒品交易吧？”他问道。

“肯定不是，”凯蒂回答道。

“请问有人能告诉我这是什么吗？我太好奇了。”瑞恩在视频结尾说道。

该视频于 10 月 9 日分享，目前已获得超过 259,000 次观看、3,700 个赞和 315 条评论。

在 Instagram 上查看此帖子 由 Ryan & Katie (@rkbackpacking) 分享的帖子

Ryan & Katie (@rkbackpacking) 分享的帖子

“与我们对新加坡的印象截然相反”

Ryan在接受Stomp采访时表示，这对夫妇在新加坡待了三天，但没有报警，因为他们不确定自己看到了什么。

“什么都有可能，”他说。

然而，考虑到新加坡以法律严格著称，这次遭遇还是让他们感到惊讶。

瑞安说：“新加坡规章制度繁多，违规者会受到严厉罚款，所以看到这种情况让我很惊讶。这和我们对新加坡的印象完全相反。”

然而，这件事并没有影响他们享受这次旅行的乐趣。

“我们玩得很开心，比我们预想的还要开心。而且，之后我们没有再去看其他东西了。”他补充道。

网民就该事件和新加坡法律展开辩论。

网友们对这笔交易提出了各种猜测，其中最流行的说法是这名女子购买了走私香烟。

“这位女士购买了走私香烟，”其中一人声称，并补充说，这些香烟比商店里出售的完税香烟便宜约 60%。

另一些人则认为，这个包里可能装着在新加坡被禁止的电子烟，甚至是毒品。

有人猜测这可能是印度产的无烟嚼烟，这种烟草在新加坡是被禁止的。

有些人提出了不太严肃的建议，开玩笑说这位女士是在买口香糖。

“嚼食猎物的走私者……哈哈，”其中一人开玩笑说。

尽情享受你的旅程吧！——网友

并非所有人都欣赏这对夫妇的好奇心。

一些网友指出，他们可能会给视频中的人带来麻烦。

一位Instagram用户评论道：“管好你自己的事，好好享受你的旅行吧。不是你看到的每样东西都需要变成内容。”

“别告密了，伙计，”另一个人说道。

“你当时并没有受到威胁；没有理由去诋毁他人，”第三位网友写道。

另一个人问道：“你就做你自己的事吧。他们打扰你了吗？”

瑞恩和凯蒂为他们分享这段视频的决定辩护。

“我们只是把我们看到的拍下来，如果不是亲眼所见，我们根本不会拍。我们是旅行博主，这就是我们的工作。”

其他人则为他们辩护，认为他们只是在讨论自己亲眼所见的事情。

“他们是否在私下骚扰视频博主并不是重点。他们只是记录了在拍摄旅行途中亲眼目睹的不寻常的事情，”其中一人说道。

“他们没有捏造事实，也没有声称了解全部真相——他们只是展示了他们所看到的，人们可以自行得出结论。”

另一位网友也表示赞同：“这些人表现得好像是故意找茬似的。他们是旅行博主，拍摄过程中正好发生了一些不寻常的事情。展现他们真实目睹的事情，和故意曝光别人是两回事。”

其他人则感谢他们关注此事。

一位Instagram用户问道：“为什么大家都在说MYOB？”

“感谢你的视频，我们欢迎所有人，除了那些想要违反规则的人，”另一位网友写道。

Stomp已联系警方寻求置评。