Including the latest case of a family wrongly detained on Christmas Eve, there have been three other cases from 2010 to last year.
In one case in January last year, a Singaporean, then pregnant, and her husband were arrested at the airport in Dubai on charges of holding forged passports.
They spent nine months in jail, during which the woman suffered a miscarriage because of the jail conditions.
In the Christmas Eve case, the family was prevented from boarding their departing flight at the airport in Dubai and detained for 14 hours in a case of mistaken identity.
It was a nightmare because the wife and her 13-year-old daughter were separated from the husband and made to spend the night in a crowded police cell.
In response to media queries, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said the family was detained at the airport by Dubai immigration authorities on Christmas Eve last year.
Their mobile phones were confiscated and they were not allowed to contact their relatives or the Singapore Consulate-General in Dubai for assistance.
After being held at the airport for about three hours, the family was then taken to the Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters, where they spent the night in separate holding cells.
The spokesman said: "At no stage was the family informed of the reason for their detention nor were their questions addressed by the police personnel.
"The daughter was also kept with her mother in a cell with about 40 other females of ill-repute, despite her young age."
The following morning, the husband and wife were interrogated separately.
After the questioning, the Dubai police finally acknowledged that they were mistaken and had detained the wrong people.
The family was released on Christmas Day.
MFAsaid that throughout the detention of 14 hours, the family, especially the daughter, was put through considerable distress.
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