SINGAPORE: A National University of Singapore (NUS) student inserted green beans into the tyre valves of seven cars to deflate them, as he wanted to make ownership of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) unattractive.
Benjamin Chia Yit Loong, a 24-year-old Singaporean, was fined S$3,000 (US$2,300) by a court on Thursday (Nov 6) for one count of mischief.
The court heard that Chia was interested in climate change and environmental issues, and wished to make SUV ownership unattractive.
He decided to deflate the tyres of cars parked near his house, and to leave on the cars flyers about the environmental damage caused by SUVs.
At around 10am on Nov 19, 2024, Chia bought a packet of green beans and took them with him to two multistorey car parks at Blocks 519A and 517A, Woodlands Drive 14.
Over about two hours, Chia deflated the tyres of seven cars by unscrewing their tyre caps, placing green beans inside the tyre valves and closing the caps.
He deflated all the tyres of the first car but subsequently deflated only one to two tyres of the rest. He left flyers on the windshields headlined "Attention - your gas guzzler kills."