Jail for thief who stole from passengers on Scoot flight
A man on a Scoot flight who brazenly took another passenger’s bag from the overhead compartment, brought it back to his seat and took money from the bag, was sentenced to eight months’ jail.
Chinese national Zhang Xiuqiang, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of theft on Jan 12. Two similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor R. Arvindren said Zhang committed the offence on a Scoot flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore on Dec 16, 2023.
The court heard how during the flight, a fellow passenger, Ms Graham Valmai Hope, sat in seat 11B, next to Zhang’s in 11C.
While en route to Singapore, Ms Hope saw Zhang walk down the aisle and take a haversack from the overhead compartment above seat 7E.
She then saw him returning to his seat with the bag, rummage through it, take something out and place it inside his jacket. He then put the bag back into the overhead compartment where he found it.
DPP Arvindren said that when the plane landed in Singapore, Ms Hope noticed it was someone else who retrieved the bag that Zhang had rummaged through earlier.
When Ms Hope told the man to check the contents of his bag, he realised he was missing an envelope containing cash of US$1,000 (S$1,330) and $930.
Ms Hope informed the victim that it was Zhang who had stolen the envelope, but Zhang was no longer at his seat.
At this point, another passenger, Mr Richard Khoo, who overheard the conversation between Ms Hope and the victim, saw Zhang trying to rush to exit from the aircraft.
He then saw Zhang throw an envelope onto one of the seats and tried to stop him from leaving the plane.
The victim took the envelope and counted the cash inside it, which tallied with the amount of cash that was missing from his bag.
Hearing this commotion, two other passengers checked their own bags and realised their cash too, were missing.
Another passenger then noticed Zhang throwing more cash onto the floor of the plane. The prosecutor said Zhang did this to get rid of the evidence that he had stolen money.
After the police was called and Zhang was arrested, he denied committing the offences despite the eyewitnesses’ accounts.
The money belonging to all three victims were recovered.
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