Woman caught on CCTV butchering & bagging aloe vera plant outside Woodlands shop

SINGAPORE: A business owner took to social media to ask for help with finding a woman who was caught on a CCTV camera cutting up an aloe vera plant and taking the cutting with her.

In a post on Threads from Tuesday (May 5), Seemi (@seemralicious_seemi) posted a video from outside Seemralicious beauty shop at Block 166 Woodlands St 13, that showed a heavyset middle-aged woman with shoulder-length hair. She was dressed in a black and red shirt with the word “SINGAPORE” in white letters on the back, as well as grey shorts with white accents. She was also carrying a bag, from which she took out a knife.

The woman then proceeded to cut off at least nine leaves from the aloe vera plant, leaving only the leaves at the centre.

Ms Seemi appealed for the “plant thief” to be made viral, sounding heartbroken because she had spent so much time on the plant, having grown it from a sapling.

“Not just stolen… but DESTROYED. Who walks into a small business and butchers our aloe vera plants like this? Caught on CCTV. 

If you recognise this person, DM us. Let’s keep our community safe,” she wrote on the caption to her post.

She added in a later post that a police report has been lodged and that the Singapore Police Force visited her shop almost immediately to follow up. They have been very helpful with the investigations, Ms Seemi added.

Commenters on her post also expressed shock at what the woman had done.

“Who walks around with a knife to cut people’s plants?” one asked.

“I rather she stole the whole plant/ pot. This is terrible to kill the plant. It was growing so well. The aloe vera plant is common and not expensive. Just ask the neighbours, maybe they can get some to grow on their own,” wrote another.

“She was brutal, cutting so many. She needs to be sent to jail. I’ve reposted on my Instagram stories to spread the word,” a third chimed in.

“Walao, aunty! If you want an aloe vera plant, I can give you FOC. Don’t need to steal or destroy other people’s plants,” another wrote.

When a kind commenter offered to give Ms Seemi another aloe vera plant, she was touched by the offer. /TISG

Read also: Man broke into a coffee shop and stole several hundred dollars in cash, crime was captured on CCTV