Singapore: A Chinese man was sentenced to two and a half years in jail on Friday, June 21 for stealing around S$120,000 (US$88,700) from a jeweller during a Singapore Airlines flight. Peng Hui, 53, from China, initially told the court during his arraignment that he did not admit guilt.
However, ultimately pleaded guilty to four charges including theft, carrying cash over S$20,000 into Singapore without declaration, converting some of the stolen money into casino chips and attempting to transfer some amount to China. Four other charges were taken into account during sentencing.
The S$120,000 Theft
The court heard that the Chinese man was on flight SQ899, which took off from Hong Kong for Singapore on March 5 this year.
On the plane, there was another passenger, a jeweller from Singapore who had visited trade fairs in Bangkok and Hong Kong and was returning home.
The victim had more than 1,000 banknotes of various denominations in his backpack, including USD 131,000 in hundred dollar bills and HKD$122,000 in five hundred dollar bills.
During the flight, the jeweller had kept his bag in the overhead compartment, slightly behind his seat.
The compartment of the bag containing the money was unlocked and the jeweller sometimes fell asleep or went to the washroom.
Peng intended to rob the victim because he was carrying a huge amount of cash.
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Peng stole US$80,000 and another HKD70,000 from the victim’s backpack mid-air.
Upon landing, the victim went through immigration and made a declaration about the cash he was carrying.
However, when he arrived at his office about three hours after landing, only then he realised that his money was missing and rushed to report the matter.
What Did Peng Do?
Peng also got off at Changi Airport. He was carrying cash of various denominations, including stolen amounts totalling S$124,473.
He checked into a hotel and counted the money, knowing that the owner would soon look for the lost money.
He then decided to exchange the currency into Singapore dollars, knowing from experience that casinos could exchange foreign currencies for casino chips.
Peng went to the Marina Bay Sands casino, where he exchanged $30,000 into casino chips and gambled some of them. He then cashed out in tokens worth around S$42,400 of chips.
Peng also visited a money transfer office at the People’s Park complex, where he made two requests to remit an amount of approximately S$19,900 to his wife in China.
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The company no longer wanted to accept his orders because he did not have a work permit. So he went to another outlet where he attempted to transfer about S$9,500 to his brother in China.
However, none of the transfers took place because the police blocked them.
Police arrested Peng in the wee hours the next day after an intensive investigation that included searching for surveillance camera footage and setting up an ambush operation.
They recovered around S$37,900 from money transfer companies Peng had tried to transfer to China, S$66,761 in cash and HKD69,000 from him.
Small amounts of other currencies were also confiscated from Peng. He was charged and taken into custody.
Sentencing
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin on Friday sought a prison sentence of 32 to 37 months for Peng, saying he was a foreigner who attacked a Singaporean on a Singapore aircraft.
He said such perpetrators were “a scourge” as they damage Singapore’s reputation as a crime-free country.
It is difficult to detect this type of crime on airplanes, as passengers often cannot control their belongings and do not realize the theft has occurred until much later.
Tung said the amount Peng stole made it one of the worst aircraft theft cases.
In his defense, Peng said through a Mandarin interpreter that he wanted to apologise 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 had 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.
Ong Chin Rhu, Deputy Principal District Judge, said the victim did not suffer a “much loss” because investigators worked hard and stopped Peng’s attempt to wipe out his criminal proceeds.
“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. Peng should raise his medical needs to the prison authorities, she said.
