SINGAPORE: A restaurant, suspicious that a man stole their religious statues, sought help through social media in the hope of reaching out to the robber. In their social media post, the restaurant emphasised that they were not looking for trouble, and just hope that the suspect would return the statues peacefully.
The man apparently took the owner’s Earth God and God of Wealth from their shop at 45 Lorong 27 Geylang.
“These two statues were a meaningful gift from my friends for my grand opening in 2019. They have been with me for more than seven years and are very important to me, both emotionally and spiritually,” the post stated.
The post also said that if the items are not returned by Jan 30, they have no choice but to file a police report.
When a reporter from Shin Min Daily News visited the restaurant, it was discovered that there was a small shrine near the entrance, and it only had the land deity tablet and the incense burner. The two sides of the incense burner were empty.
After reviewing the CCTV footage, they saw a man enter the store twice, acting suspiciously. The female employee at that time admitted that she did not think much of what the man was doing, assuming that he had just come inside the store for something and would eventually leave.
The man, who appeared to be in his 40s and was dressed in black and jeans, was seen entering the store. He sat down next to the statue to observe it. Then, he put the statue into his bag and left. The whole act took less than 30 seconds.
In another footage from another day, the man is seen dining at the restaurant while eyeing the statues. He asked if he could sit near the statues and when his companion left for the restroom, he was seen putting a statue inside his bag on the ground. During his visit, he even knelt down in front of the statue and made a gesture of worship. A few minutes later, he completed his payment and left the store.
The store found out that the man and his female companion spent $44 that day. They have now obtained relevant information about them.
Other related news
In another report, a maid is said to have stolen jewellery amounting to over $32,000 from her employer. She covered the CCTV camera with a cloth to hide the crime.
The 34-year-old Indonesian suspect now faces three charges of theft and one charge of providing false information to a public official. She pleaded guilty to one of the theft charges and was sentenced to 36 weeks in jail.
Read more about the story here.
