From January through June, the number of rapes rose to 70 from 59 in the same period the year before, a 19 percent increase, and the number of murders rose to 12 from 11, a 9 percent increase, according to the police statistics released this week.

Overall, reports of seizable offenses - those for which officers can make an arrest without a warrant - dropped by a single case to 16,545 compared with the same period last year, the summary showed.

"Singapore is one of the safest places in the world,'' Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said in a prepared speech handed to reporters Tuesday, 26 July.

The tiny Southeast Asian country "regularly ranked highly in international surveys such as those by the Political Economic Risk Consultancy, which rated Singapore as the top city in the world for personal safety and security in 2003,'' Wong said.

Cases of motor vehicle theft - mostly motorbikes - also rose 6 percent to 612 during the period, while police reports of robbery fell 24 percent to 420, and cases of housebreaking dropped by 19 percent to 513, the police statement said.

Housebreaking refers to illegal entry into a dwelling, while robbery is theft from a public place. - AP

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