By Desmond Ng

SEEING is believing.

Especially for Mr Muhd Rizhal Senin, who loves to swim in the cool waters of Sungei Tampines off Pasir Ris beach.

For the last five years, he has been brushing off talk from others that there were crocodiles spotted in that area.

Not even the recent sighting - which was captured in a photo and inspired a hunt by the authorities - rattled him.

That was until early Sunday morning - when one appeared right before his eyes.

Mr Rizhal was riding his mountain bike home in the wee hours of the morning from Pasir Ris beach when he spotted some of his friends struggling with an animal on the boardwalk over Sungei Tampines, near the beach.

1m long

The 30-year-old decided to check it out and, to his surprise, it was a metre-long crocodile caught on a line by two anglers.

Mr Rizhal said: 'Both of them were struggling with the crocodile and trying to hold it down. I tried to help, even though I was quite afraid. We used scotch-tape and some rope to tie up the crocodile's mouth and feet.

'The skin was quite rough and felt quite strange.'

Even though it looked small, the men believe that this was the same crocodile spotted by retiree Mr Ong Wee Lee two weeks ago at a mangrove swamp near Pasir Ris beach.

Mr Rizhal said he called the police, who took the tied-up crocodile away.

He added that one of his friends had accidentally snared the crocodile by the leg while reeling his line in.

They were there to catch seabass, garoupas and tilapia fish, and hauling in a crocodile was definitely not what they had expected.

Mr Rizhal said: 'They (his friends) were so shocked that I had to call the police for them. For a while, they just sat on the ground, stunned.'

It is not difficult to see why the crocodile will make that swamp home - it was teeming with schools of tilapia fish when The New Paper was there yesterday afternoon.

For Mr Rizhal, the sight of the crocodile there meant only one thing - the end of his weekly swim in that swamp.

He had always disregarded anglers there who warned him about crocodiles.

Mr Rizhal, who is married with three children aged 2 to 6, also picks mussels in the swamp to sell or to eat.

He said: 'After seeing the crocodile, I am not going to swim here anymore. I don't think it's safe and I don't want to risk my life.'

One angler, who wanted to be known only as Imran, said he has not seen crocodiles there before.

'But I am not taking any chances too. I will just fish from the bridge. And no way am I going to swim in these waters,' he said.

The police confirmed that a crocodile was handed to them on Sunday morning.

They said that the crocodile has been transferred to a private company that deals with such animals.

The public can call the PUB 24-hour hotline at 1800-284-6600 if they spot crocodiles in rivers or reservoirs.