SINGAPORE: A 26-year-old Chinese national who got caught taking the luggage of a business class passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight in August was given a sentence of 20 months in jail for syndicated theft on Tuesday (Dec 23).
Liu Ming entered a guilty plea to one charge of theft.
He had boarded a Singapore Airlines flight from Dubai to Singapore on Aug 7, which left at night. His deeds were financed by a criminal syndicate, according to a report in CNA. His goal on the flight was to steal expensive items that belonged to business-class passengers.
Liu’s target on this particular flight was a man from Azerbaijan who sat five rows in front of him. The man’s wife, meanwhile, was assigned a seat in the row in front of Liu.
Early in the morning of Aug 8, after the meal had been served and the lights dimmed for passengers to get some rest, Liu struck. No flight attendants were present in the business class section at the time of the incident.
The Chinese national opened the overhead compartment above the victim’s seat, took out his suitcase, and brought it back to his own seat. At the time, the victim was asleep, and his wife had recently woken up.
Seeing that Liu had her husband’s luggage, she asked if it belonged to him. Liu replied to her, but she did not understand what he told her.
She then resorted to telling the cabin crew about the incident. While she went off to do so, Liu, who had no chance to open the bag, brought the suitcase back to the overhead compartment over the man’s seat. He told the cabin crew when he was confronted that he had been confused about the suitcase and had mistakenly taken it.
When it was searched, it showed that nothing was missing from the man’s suitcase, which contained items worth more than S$100,000, including cash, a laptop, and two valuable watches.
When the plane landed in Singapore, Liu was arrested. Nevertheless, he claimed that it had been an honest mistake and that he had simply wanted to get some toiletries from his bag.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie, who asked for 20 to 24 months’ jail, pointed out that public interest was involved in the offence because if such crimes occurred on the national carrier, it would affect Singapore’s reputation.
Nevertheless, Liu could have spent as much as three years in jail, been fined, or both. /TISG
Read also: Warning: In-flight theft hits business class – Here’s how to safeguard your valuables
