Five arrested for suspected involvement in loansharking activities
AsiaOne
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
SINGAPORE - Police have arrested 3 men and 2 women, aged 22 to 52, for their suspected involvement in loansharking activities in four separate cases.
In the first case, on May 27 at about 1.20pm, officers arrested a 29-year-old woman along Pipit Road. She is suspected to have used her previous residential address to obtain illegal loans from loansharks. This caused the occupants of her previous home to be harassed by loansharks.
In addition, she is also being investigated for failing to report the change of her residential address under the National Registration Act.
In the second case, on May 27 at about 4.30 pm, officers arrested a 23-year-old woman at Hougang Central. She is believed to have assisted loansharks by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on walls of HDB blocks, as well as transferred money on Automated Teller Machines (ATM) with her ATM cards.
In the third case, on May 27 at about 8.30 pm, officers were conducting anti-crime duties near Telok Blangah Drive when they spotted a 52-year-old man behaving suspiciously. Following an interview, the suspect was arrested for suspected involvement in loan sharking activities. He is believed to be a debtor-turned-runner who has been assisting loanshark to verify whether the debtors' units that had been harassed before.
In the fourth case, on May 28 at about 2.20am, officers were conducting a roadblock when they conducted a check on a taxi which was ferrying the two men, aged 22 and 25, along Pasir Ris Drive 12. During the check, loanshark-related paraphernalia such as three plastic bottles containing paint and two crayons were found in their possession.
The men were arrested and the items were seized for investigations. The men were believed to be heading to a debtor's unit at Pasir Ris HDB estate to commit loanshark harassment. They are also believed to be responsible for several cases of loanshark harassment island-wide by splashing paint, locking debtors' units with bicycle lock and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on the walls.
Police investigations against the suspects in the first and third case are on-going. T
The suspects in the second and fourth case will be charged in Court. Under the Moneylenders Act (Revised Edition 2010), first-time offenders found guilty of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment shall be punished with a maximum jail term of 5 years, a fine between $5,000 and $50,000, and shall also be liable to caning between 3 and 6 strokes.
First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender, may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning with not more than six strokes.
Under the Moneylenders Act (Revised Edition 2010), any person who is guilty of providing false contact information to obtain loans from loansharks shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months.
Under the National Registration Act, any person who is guilty of an offence of failing to report a change of address shall be liable on conviction to a fine up to $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
