Ubi armed robber caught after three days
Officers pored over more than 1,000 hours of footage before making arrest
After a three-day islandwide manhunt and poring over more than 1,000 hours of footage from different cameras, a suspect in the Western Union robbery has been arrested.
The 56-year-oldSingaporean was arrested on Thursday at Pasir Ris Drive 6, the police said at a press conference yesterday.
Armed with a knife, he had allegedly threatened a woman employee at Block 301, Ubi Avenue 1 and demanded that she hand over money.
Police said that although about $4,000 was handed to him, he dropped $3,000 and fled with $1,071.
The suspect, who was wearing a white helmet, black jacket and dark-coloured trousers, fled on a bicycle. No one was injured.
Commander of Bedok Police Division Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Tan Tin Wee said the police had to work with a lack of leads.
More than 130 officers from different departments including the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department were involved.
Head investigator of Bedok Police Division Superintendent (Supt) K Vasanthan said some officers slept only three to four hours daily.
As the suspect had fled on a bicycle, they looked to footage from in-car cameras of vehicles in the area identified by police cameras and CCTV cameras.
Said Supt Vasanthan: "There was no clear image, but that helped. It's the small things that helped us put the pieces together."
TNP understands when the suspect was caught, he looked tired and did not resist arrest.
He was still wearing the pants he allegedly committed the crime in. One of the pockets had the face mask he allegedly wore beneath his helmet on the day of the crime.
The suspect was found with hardly any cash on him, but he had four 4D tickets worth $24.
After getting caught, he led the police to the red bicycle in Bedok.
Said AC Tan: "I'm very proud of my officers. Despite the initial lack of leads, they have worked long and hard over three days to trace the suspect's movements, establish his identity and subsequently bring him to justice."
The suspect will be charged in court today with an offence of armed robbery. If convicted, he faces jail of between two and 10 years.
This was the second armed robbery case reported this week.
On Monday, a 48-year-old man was arrested four hours after robbing a Shell petrol station in Upper Bukit Timah Road with a knife and escaping with more than $1,100.
Visvanathan Vadivelu was charged on Wednesday.
Police said the two incidents are not related.
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