Man Sentenced to 2.5 Years for S$120,000 Theft on Singapore Airlines Flight

A man who stole approximately S$120,000 (US$88,700) from a jeweller on a Singapore Airlines aircraft was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday.

Peng Hui, a 54-year-old Chinese national, initially told the court when he was charged that he did not acknowledge culpability, but later pled guilty to four offenses.

These are for theft, bringing more than S$20,000 in cash into Singapore without declaring it, changing some of the stolen cash into casino chips, and attempting to send money to China.

Four additional charges were considered during sentence.

Peng was aboard flight SQ899 from Hong Kong to Singapore on March 5 of this year, according to the court.

Another passenger on the plane was a Singaporean jeweller returning from trade shows in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

The victim carried over 1,000 notes of various denominations in his rucksack, including US$131,000 in hundred-dollar bills and HK$122,000 (US$15,630) in five-hundred-dollar notes.

During the trip, the jeweller left his suitcase in the overhead compartment, which is slightly behind his seat.

The compartment of the bag containing the cash was not locked, and the jeweller occasionally dozed off or used the restroom.

Peng had planned to steal from the victim, targeting him since he was carrying a substantial sum of money.

While the jet was in flight, Peng stole US$80,000 and another HK$70,000 from the victim’s backpack.

When the victim landed, he went through the immigration checkpoint and declared the cash he was carrying.

However, when he arrived at his office around three hours after landing, he discovered that a big sum of cash had gone missing and went to report the incident.

Peng also landed at Changi Airport. He carried cash in various denominations, including the stolen sums, totaling S$124,473.

He booked into a motel and counted his money, knowing that the owner would shortly look for it.

He decided to exchange the currency for Singapore dollars since he knew from previous experience that casinos could convert foreign currencies into casino chips.

Peng traveled to Marina Bay Sands Casino, where he exchanged US$30,000 for casino chips and gambled some of them.

He eventually cashed out approximately S$42,400 worth of chips.

Peng also went to a remittance office in the People’s Park Complex and placed two orders to send approximately S$19,900 to his wife in China.

Because he did not have a work visa, the company refused to accept any more orders from him, so he went to another shop and attempted to send approximately S$9,500 to his brother in China.

However, none of the remittances got through since the police stopped them.

Peng was arrested in the early hours of the next day following extensive police investigations that included a search of security camera footage and an ambush operation.

They retrieved approximately S$37,900 from remittance businesses that Peng attempted to wire to China, S$66,761 in cash from him, and HK$69,000.

Smaller sums of other currencies were also found from Peng. He was charged and remanded.

On Friday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin sought 32 to 37 months in prison for Peng, claiming he was a foreigner who targeted a Singaporean on a Singapore aircraft.

He described such offenders as “a scourge” since they undermine Singapore’s status as a crime-free country.

Detecting such thefts on airlines is tough since passengers frequently lose track of their goods and discover the theft only later.

According to Tung, the amount stolen by Peng is among the worst examples of airplane theft.

In mitigation, Peng apologized to the jeweler through a Mandarin interpreter.

“I have caused him monetary loss, even though it’s not much,” he told me. “But mentally it did affect him as well.”

He also asked for leniency, claiming that he had “damaged Singapore’s security reputation.”

He stated that he was over 50 years old, diabetic, and had only one kidney.

“I’m concerned that if I’m detained for too long, I won’t be able to withstand it. Finally, my mother is over eighty years old. I’m the lone child. I want to care for her, yet doing so would land me in jail. I’d like to send her on her final voyage, therefore I’m hoping that your honor will lower the jail sentence, and I realize I’m in the wrong,” he said.

Deputy Principal District Judge Ong Chin Rhu stated that the victim did not suffer “much loss” as a result of the investigators’ hard work in stopping Peng’s attempt to dissipate his unlawful earnings.

“But it is good also that Mr Peng did recognise that aside from the monetary loss, the victim would also have suffered a certain measure of mental distress on discovering the theft of his monies,” the ruling’s judge stated.

She advised Peng to communicate his medical issues to prison officials.