4 youths arrested for loanshark harassment
Thursday, Jan 09, 2014
Four male youths, aged between 15 and 19, have been arrested for suspected involvement in a series of loanshark harassment cases involving fire.
An incident was reported yesterday (Jan 8) at 2am at Jurong East Ave 1. Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) immediately carried out extensive ground enquiries and intelligence probes.
Police managed to establish the identity of a possible suspect and on the same day, the 18-year-old suspect was arrested at 4.45pm at his Jurong West home.
Following the arrest, officers carried out a series of operations and ambushes on the same day from 8pm to 9.45pm, leading to the arrests of three other suspects at Bukit Timah, Geylang Bahru and Bukit Batok.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the four suspects are believed to be involved in seven counts of
loanshark harassment involving fire between Dec 31, 2013 and Jan 8.
Three of the suspects, aged between 17 and 19, will be charged in the Subordinate Court on Jan 10, while the 15-year-old suspect will be charged in the Juvenile Court on Jan 13 for loanshark harassment.
Under the Moneylenders Act, persons found guilty of committing loanshark harassment shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of between $5,000 and $50,000, and shall also be liable to be punished with between three and six strokes of the cane.
Head of the Unlicensed Moneylending Strikeforce of CID, Superintendent of Police Aileen Yap, commended the officers for the perseverance and swift arrests.
She warned that the Police will spare no effort to apprehend offenders who commit UML harassment and said: "Police take a serious view of those who assist the loansharks to commit harassment acts that pose serious threat to the lives of individuals and the safety of the community. W
"We will not hesitate to hunt these offenders down and ensure that they face the fullest brunt of the law."
