4 jailed for stealing 100 litres of petrol from PCG vessels
Four technicians working for the same company hatched a plan to siphon petrol off Police Coast Guard (PCG) patrol crafts over a period of four days in July 2023.
Together, they managed to steal around 100 litres of petrol, valued at $183.04, off active PCG crafts berthed at Lim Chu Kang.
Alden Teo Chee Kiat, 32, Muhammad Khairullah Abdullah, 31, Muhammad Rizuan Leman, 34, and Muhammad Shahzwan Hissam, 33, pleaded guilty to theft of the petrol on Feb 14.
Teo was sentenced to three weeks in jail, Rizuan and Shahzwan were sentenced to a month in jail, and Khairullah was sentenced to one month and one week in jail.
They will also be made to compensate for the stolen petrol.
Teo will pay back $45.76, Rizuan and Shahzwan will compensate $54.91 each, and Khairullah will have to pay $101.65 for his part.
The compensation also takes into account the individual charges for Rizuan, Shahzwan and Khairullah, involving separate incidents of stealing petrol.
Teo, Khairullah, Rizuan and Shahzwan were working for Lungteh Shipbuilding, a firm contracted by PCG to help service and maintain their patrol crafts berthed at PCG’s Lim Chu Kang base.
The four men were employed as service technicians, and were tasked to clean the PCG crafts’ engines and generators and change the engine oil.
The court heard that while servicing a patrol craft, the four men realised the vehicle operated on petrol.
They hatched a plan to siphon some of the petrol for their own use, by stealing and storing the petrol in a 30 litre jerry can and 10 litre manual pneumatic fluid extractor, before hiding the stolen petrol at their company’s workshop just off the PCG base.
On Jul 3, 2023, Teo, Khairullah, Rizuan and Shahzwan acted on their plan and siphoned around 40 litres of petrol. They later used the stolen petrol to refill their motorcycles, while Teo topped up his car.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Suriya Prakash said after the first time, the four decided to steal more petrol using the same method.
On Jul 4, Jul 10 and Jul 11, the four men stole around 60 litres of petrol from PCG patrol crafts.
Their act was only uncovered on Aug 2, 2023, when a branch manager of Lungteh Shipbuilding noticed petrol inside one of the firm’s manual pneumatic fluid extractor, and lodged a police report.
All four were present in court together on Feb 14, and were not represented by a lawyer.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now