A man who stole the equivalent of about S$120,000 (US$88,700) from a jeweller on a Singapore Airlines flight was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ jail on Friday.
Peng Hui, a 54-year-old Chinese national, had initially told the court when he was charged that he did not admit guilt, but eventually pleaded guilty to four charges.
These are for theft, carrying cash exceeding S$20,000 into Singapore without declaring it, converting some of the stolen cash into casino chips and attempting to remit some money to China.
Another four charges were considered in sentencing.
The court heard that Peng was on flight SQ899, which left Hong Kong for Singapore on March 5 this year.
There was another passenger on the plane – a Singaporean jeweller who had gone to Bangkok and Hong Kong to attend trade fairs and was heading home.
The victim had more than 1,000 notes of various denominations in his backpack, including US$131,000 in hundred-dollar bills and HK$122,000 (US$15,630) in five hundred-dollar bills.
During the flight, the jeweller left his bag in the overhead compartment positioned slightly behind his seat.
The compartment of the bag that held the cash was not locked, and the jeweller dozed off at times, or visited the washroom.
Peng had formed the intention to steal from the victim, targeting him because he was carrying a large sum of cash.
While the plane was in flight, Peng surreptitiously removed US$80,000 and another HK$70,000 from the victim’s backpack.
When the victim landed, he passed through the immigration checkpoint and made a declaration for the cash amounts he was carrying.
However, when he got to his office about three hours after landing, he realised a large amount of cash was missing and rushed to report the case.
Peng also alighted at Changi Airport. He had on him cash of various denominations, including the stolen amounts, totalling S$124,473.
He checked into a hotel and counted the money, realising that the owner would soon look for the cash.
He decided to change the currency into Singapore dollars and knew from experience that casinos could change foreign currencies into casino chips.
Peng went to the casino at Marina Bay Sands, where he changed US$30,000 into casino chips and gambled some of them.
He later cashed out about S$42,400 worth of chips.
Peng also visited a remittance outlet in People’s Park Complex where he placed two orders to remit a sum of about S$19,900 to his wife in China.
The company would not accept more orders from him as he did not have a work permit, so he visited another outlet where he attempted to remit about S$9,500 to his brother in China.
However, none of the remittances went through as the police put a stop to them.
Peng was arrested in the wee hours of the next day after intensive police investigations involving trawling of security camera footage and an ambush operation.
They recovered about S$37,900 from the remittance companies that Peng had attempted to wire to China, S$66,761 in cash from him and HK$69,000.
Smaller amounts of other currencies were also recovered from Peng. He was charged and remanded.
On Friday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin sought 32 to 37 months’ jail for Peng, saying he was a foreigner who targeted a Singaporean on a Singapore aircraft.
He said such offenders are “a scourge” as they affect Singapore’s reputation as a crime-free country.
Detection of such crimes on planes is difficult, as passengers often cannot keep an eye on their belongings and find out about the theft much later.
Tung said the amount that Peng stole makes it one of the worst cases of aeroplane theft.
In mitigation, Peng said via a Mandarin interpreter that he would like to say sorry to the jeweller.
“I have caused him monetary loss, even though it’s not much,” he said. “But mentally it did affect him as well.”
He also pleaded for leniency, saying he had “caused damage to the security reputation of Singapore”.
He said he was over 50 years old, had diabetes and only one kidney.
“I am worried that if I am incarcerated for too long, I will not be able to withstand it. And lastly, my mother is over 80 years old. I am the only child. I would like to take care of her, but I would be going to jail. I would like to send her on her last journey, so I hope that your honour will reduce the jail term and I know that I am in the wrong,” he said.
Deputy Principal District Judge Ong Chin Rhu said the fact that the victim did not suffer “much loss” was because of the hard work of the investigators who stopped Peng’s attempt to dissipate his criminal gains.
“But it is good also that Mr Peng did recognise that aside from the monetary loss, the victim would also have suffered a certain measure of mental distress on discovering the theft of his monies,” said the judge.
She said Peng should highlight his medical needs to the prison authorities.
This story was first published by CNA
