Jul 15, 2010
Casino thief struck twice
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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CHEONG Yong Heng was so brazen, he returned to steal more chips from a Thai national at the Marina Bay Sands casino on the afternoon of June 15. The 36-year-old was fined a total of $2,000 on two theft charges on Thursday. A district court heard that closed-circuit television footage showed Cheong standing behind a Thai woman playing Sic-Bo - a game of three dice, more commonly known as 'tai sai'.
While she was engrossed in the gaming, he unzipped her handbag, which was slung over her shoulder, and stole four $25 chips at about 2.30pm. An hour later, he returned and took two more $25 chips from her handbag. The victim became aware of the theft at 3.30pm when she noticed that her handbag was unzipped and some of her chips were missing.
She informed the casino staff, who then checked the CCTV footage. Cheong was still in the casino and was detained by security staff two hours later. He surrendered four $25 chips to the police and later made restitution of $50 to the victim. Cheong could have been jailed up to three years and/or fined up to $10,000.
