ST and CNA omit mentioning that Orchard Rd pickpockets are Filipinas

Three Filipinas between the ages of 31 and 39 were arrested last Friday for their alleged involvement in a series of pickpocketing offences at Orchard Road.

The police said in a press release on Saturday, 23 Dec, that two victims reported that their wallets had been stolen from their purses while another victim reported that her mobile phone was stolen the day before the arrests were made, on Thursday.

The police recovered S$1,117 cash, three mobile phones, an Internet banking dongle and an EZ-link card, among other items, when the arrests were made. The authorities added:

“Preliminary investigations suggest that the three women had collaborated to distract the victims before stealing their valuables. They are also believed to be involved in several other cases of pickpocketing.”

Interestingly both Singapore Press Holdings’ English daily The Straits Times and Mediacorp’s Channel News Asia omitted reporting the nationalities of the suspects, leading netizens to question the omission:

Only Mediacorp’s TODAY reported the nationalities of the suspects. The online news publication reported that a “Filipino gang” had been arrested by the police but later edited their headline to omit the word ‘Filipino’ from the title. The URL of the article still contained the omitted word, despite the amendment in the headline: