A man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing $80,000 worth of cash from a passenger’s bag during a recent flight from Hong Kong to Singapore after police were able to track the suspect down just hours after the alleged crime and caught him red-handed with tens of thousands worth of dollars still on him.
The theft took place on Tuesday when a passenger flying from Hong Kong to Singapore placed cash in various currencies but said to be worth a total of US $80,000 unattended in the overhead locker near his seat.
At some point during the three and hour flight to Singapore, the 54-year-old suspect managed to rifle through the victim’s bag and take the money without the owner or anyone else around him noticing.
In fact, it wasn’t until the flight had landed in Singapore and the victim had disembarked the aircraft that he realised that all of his cash had been swiped.
The Singapore Police Force says it used flight records, as well as data from the Commercial Affairs Department, to track the alleged perpetrator down in just a matter of hours.
By the time that the police had worked out the suspect’s identity, he had already allegedly attempted to send more than S$37,000 via bank transfer in four separate transactions, although these transfers were promptly cancelled by the police.
After tracking down the suspect, police discovered he still had cash worth around S$79,600 in his possession. The man has been charged with theft and was due to appear in a local court on Thursday.
Unfortunately, theft from overhead lockers isn’t uncommon in the region, and only a few months ago, a man flying with Scoot Airways from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore was charged with stealing more than $23,000 in cash from three of his seatmates.
The 52-year-old Chinese suspect had gone about rifling through various bags in the overhead lockers without anyone challenging him, but one passenger thought he was acting suspiciously, so the cabin crew requested the police to meet the aircraft on arrival.
The police did not name the airline involved in the latest incident, but following the December 2023 theft, Scoot Airways said that it advises passengers to “safeguard their valuables at all times.”
TOTH: View from the Wing
