An auxiliary police officer resorted to armed robbery to pay off his debts.
Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, 38, who worked for Aetos, has been accused of stealing more than S$24,000 (about US$18,000) in cash during an armed robbery at a moneylender store along Jurong Gateway Road yesterday.
He was arrested hours after he fled from the outlet at nearly 4pm, with a bag full of cash and a gun, according to police, who today revealed to the press the items they had seized from the accused, including a portion of the stolen cash, the M85 Taurus, and a handwritten note that had been torn into pieces.
“The man involved in the armed robbery abused the firearm entrusted to him to carry out his duties,” Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police How Kwang Hwee told reporters today. “The police officers worked swiftly to secure his arrest headed by images from police cameras and shop CCTVs.”
The handwritten note said: “This is a robbery. Don’t shout. I got [a] gun in my pocket. Put all the money in the bag.”
Mahadi never used the gun, according to police. The money that was stolen was used to pay off other moneylenders while the rest was given to a friend. Police recovered S$17,500 of the stolen amount and were working to retrieve the rest.
The man was arrested five hours after the incident, according to police, noting that surveillance footage had helped with the investigation. Prior to the incident, the man had reported to work in the morning but changed out his uniform and left with his firearm. He returned to the Aetos headquarters to change back into his uniform and resumed work.
Some of the cash he stole was deposited into the bank account of an unnamed 34-year-old woman while the rest was transferred to other moneylenders. That woman has been arrested for allegedly receiving stolen property. Eight other people linked to the case, aged 16 to 48, were also arrested.
The man faces life imprisonment and at least six strokes of the cane.
This isn’t the first robbery in that area. Four men armed with a karambit knife were in November charged with robbing money lender OT Credit of S$48,000.
OT Credit declined to comment for this story.
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