Thief wears plastic bag over head to steal cash register from coffee shop at Boon Tiong Road

A man was able to break into a coffee shop on Boon Tiong Road on Saturday (May 28) at about 2 am, where he took a mobile phone and five cash registers, which contained over $700.

He wore a plastic bag over his head in the hopes that his identity would be hidden if his acts were caught on CCTV cameras.

However, police were able to arrest the 55-year-old man on the same day.

On Monday (May 30) he was charged with housebreaking and theft.

Shin Min Daily News said that people discovered the break-in when they reported for work on Saturday morning. 

By 5:30 am, just before the start of the working day, an owner of a drinks stall at the Tiong Bahru coffee shop found the mess that the robber had made.

He also discovered that his cash register had been stolen.

The stall owner then proceeded to call the police, as well as the other stall owners of the coffee shop.

When they arrived, they discovered their cash registers had been broken into as well.

A video from a CCTV camera shows a man in a white shirt and dark pants with a dark cross-body bag wearing a white plastic bag over his head.

He is seen taking a pair of scissors and cutting the wires of a cash register and then lifting the cash register from the counter where it was installed.

The thief then places it somewhere off-camera and then can be seen again in the video, presumably about to repeat his actions.

Fortunately, the stallholders say they only leave small amounts in their cash registers for the sake of having change the next day, while the bulk of their earnings is taken home.

Officers from Central Police Division were able to identify the man through CCTV footage and ground inquiries, and arrested him the same day.

On the housebreaking to commit theft charges, the man could end up in jail for as long as 10 years, or be given a fine. /TISG 

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