UK man charged in Singapore 2 years after stealing denim jacket at Jewel Changi

SINGAPORE: An arrest made over a theft at Jewel Changi Airport made the news recently for the unusual fact that the incident occurred in 2024.

On August 15, 2026, officers from the Singapore Police Force arrested a 26-year-old British national, and he was subsequently charged on Aug 25, together with a woman from Poland who had also shoplifted from the airport in a separate incident earlier this year.

Two-year-old stealing incident

At around 6:35 p.m. on August 14, 2024, a shop assistant at a store in Changi Airport noticed that a blue denim jacket that had been on a display mannequin was missing.

The police were alerted soon after.

Footage on CCTV cameras showed a male shopper shortly before 4:00 p.m. that day taking the jacket off a mannequin, and then leaving the store’s premises without paying for it. 

The denim jacket was worth around S$350.

However, by the time officers from the Airport Police Division (APD) were able to determine the man’s identity, he had already left the city-state.

On Aug 15, when he was in transit at Changi Airport, the man was arrested.

Consequences

The man has since been charged with one count of theft in dwelling under Section 380 of Singapore’s Penal Code. For this offence, he can be jailed for as long as seven years, be made to pay a fine, or both.

The Polish woman who was charged on the same day had taken two bottles of perfume from retail outlets in the transit area of Changi Airport Terminal 1 without paying for them. One was worth S$410 and the other, S$400. She was arrested before she left Singapore, and both items were recovered from her.

“The Police take a serious stance of shop theft and will deal firmly with offenders in accordance with the law. Offenders should not assume that they can evade detection simply by leaving Singapore after committing an offence. The Police will continue to work closely with stakeholders to prevent, detect and deter shop theft at Changi Airport,” SPF said in a statement. /TISG

Read also: Another foreigner gets caught shoplifting at Changi Airport