Auxiliary cops jailed for stealing $147k
It all started with discussions about their discontent with their employer.
Then, a plan to steal huge sums of money during their shift was hatched.
Just before they ended their duty of emptying and loading automated teller machines (ATMs) around Singapore, one of the two auxiliary police officers broke into two buffer cartridges containing money and emptied some of its contents.
Upon returning to their office, the same officer transferred all the money into his personal bag and rode a motorcycle across the Causeway without declaring the amount of money he was carrying.
Yesterday, Theywa Subramaniam, 27, was jailed 36 months for criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating money amounting to $146,900 and for removing it from the jurisdiction of Singapore.
His accomplice and fellow colleague, Palwinder Singh Harjan Singh, 21, was jailed 30 months for criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating the same amount of money.
CONSTABLE RANK
The two Malaysians were both auxiliary police officers holding the rank of constable with Certis Cisco.
They were under the security transport unit, which is in charge of replenishing money at ATMs in Singapore.
A district court heard that the duo committed their crime on Sept 17 last year.
They were entrusted with several cartridges containing money, including two buffer cartridges each containing $220,000.
The pair was captured by closed-circuit television pushing a trolley containing the cartridges in bags into a male toilet at the basement of Plaza Singapura at about 6.40am.
In one of the toilet cubicles, Theywa broke the seal of the bag containing the buffer cartridges while Palwinder Singh acted as a lookout outside of the cubicle.
They then continued with their duty and returned to their office at 8am. About an hour later, Theywa rode his motorcycle across the Causeway with the stash without declaring them. He lives in Johor Baru, Malaysia.
BUSTED
On the same day, officers from Cisco noticed that the two buffer cartridges were lighter than usual even though the seals were intact. They investigated internally and made a police report.
The two men were arrested on Oct 14 last year. A total of $135,000were recovered from Theywa's home in Malaysia with assistance from the Royal Malaysian Police.
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