Man who snatched woman’s bag at Bedok North caught after 11 hours

SINGAPORE: A man who snatched the sling bag of a woman along Bedok North Street 2 on Thursday (Nov 27) was caught by the police within 11 hours of the incident. The sling bag has since been recovered with all its contents intact.

According to a press release issued by the Public Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force on Thursday evening, the 57-year-old man has since been arrested for his suspected involvement in a case of snatch theft.

The snatching incident

The incident occurred in the early morning hours of Nov 27, with the Police receiving an alert at around 1:19 am after a man was reported to have taken the sling bag from a female victim, who sustained minor injuries after her bag was snatched.

The man ran away after taking her sling bag.

Officers from Bedok Police Division and Police Operations Command Centre Police used images from cameras, as well as carried out ground enquiries, in order to determine the snatcher’s identity even before 12 hours had elapsed.

The man was arrested, and the sling bag, containing S$137 in cash, was recovered.

The snatcher was scheduled to be charged in court on Friday (Nov 28), with the offence of snatch theft under Section 356 of the Penal Code 1871. If he is found guilty, he faces between one and seven years in jail, and will also be liable to caning.

“The Police will not tolerate such brazen acts of crime and will spare no effort to apprehend such offenders and deal with them in accordance with the law. Members of the public who encounter such cases are advised to remain calm, take note of the physical appearance and distinctive features of the perpetrator, and call for the Police as soon as possible,” the statement reads.

Snatching is not a very common offence in Singapore, which is likely due to the number of CCTVs installed around the city-state that make catching offenders easy for the authorities. Other offences, including shop theft, are more common.

In June of last year, after a 24-year-old man snatched the gold necklace of a 65-year-old along Buffalo Road, he was identified within an hour. The gold chain, valued at S$800, was recovered along with a mobile phone that the man had taken in a similar incident along Kerbau Road on the same day. /TISG

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