Man sneaks into durian stall at night after turning off the camera, but he pulled the wrong plug

SINGAPORE: The thief knew he had to turn off the CCTV to avoid being caught. But his knowhow didn’t extend to how to turn off this particular CCTV. For this lack of knowhow, he now has to pay for his crime — sentenced to jail for stealing nine black gold durians worth a total of S$250.

The thief cased out the Bukit Batok durian stall at night. The 56-year-old culprit planned to turn off the camera to hide his crime but pulled the wrong plug and was caught in action. Reported by the stall owner,  he pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and was sentenced to nine weeks in prison. 

The details of the incident  

Investigations revealed that on September 6, a man was loitering around the durian store located on the ground floor of Block 276, Bukit Batok East Avenue 4. He inspected the stall for a few minutes before pulling an electrical plug in an attempt to turn off the camera. However, luck was not on his side because the power supply for the camera was located elsewhere. 

The man thought that he had successfully turned off the CCTV, so he walked over to the stall, put nine black gold durians into a plastic bag, and left. The next day, the stall assistant found out that the durians were missing and immediately called the police after checking the camera. 

After checking the footage, the stall owner told Shin Min Daily News that he saw two people had been there. “One of them was squatting on the ground and took nine durians from the basket under the table,” he said. 

The other person pulled out the plug for the refrigerator, and that affected the condition of other fruits.

The stall owner declared that there had been instances of theft before, and he is now more cautious. He said, “There were other thieves before, but they didn’t steal much. So I spent S$2,800 to install five more cameras. Now there are seven or eight cameras in the store, and there are no more thieves.” 

What are the penalties for theft in Singapore laws? 

In Singapore, under section 379 of the Penal Code, anyone found guilty of theft may be fined and imprisoned for up to three years.

However, for first-time offenders, a community-based sentence may be applied instead of a fine or imprisonment.