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NO MERCY FOR MONEYLENDERS
8 men arrested for loan shark activities
June 15, 2009
CONFISCATED: The items that were retrieve by police. TNP FILE PICTURE
Police arrested eight men in one day on 11 Jun, all for suspected loan-shark harassment activities.
IT was a Black Thursday for the illegal moneylending business last week.
Six men, aged 25 to 37, suspected to belong to a loan-shark syndicate, were nabbed in an islandwide raid that lasted over eight and a half hours last Thursday, while two others, aged 17 and 21, were arrested in a separate incident by officers on patrol in Sengkang.
The loan-shark syndicate was also suspected to be involved in illegal soccer bookmaking activities, according to preliminary police investigations.
Four suspects from the syndicate and the two caught by patrol officers were charged in court yesterday morning for assisting in an unlicensed moneylending business under the Moneylenders' Act 2008.
One of the syndicate members was charged for assisting in the carrying on of a public lottery under the Common Gaming Houses Act.
There is one suspect currently released on bail.
The coordinated raid, which took place from 3.30pm to 11pm, saw officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department conducting raids at several places simultaneously.
Among the locations raided were Beatty Road, Bukit Purmei, Jalan Besar and Upper East Coast Road.
Police seized cash of about $40,000, computers, mobile phones, storage media, and suspected debtor records.
The assistant director of the specialised crime division and criminal investigation department, Superintendent Goh Lam Kiong, commended the officers who conducted the raid on their efforts.
He said that this operation showed the insidious links between loan-shark syndicates and other crimes such as illegal bookmaking.
Added Superintendent Goh: 'Police will not hesitate to take action against such criminal organisations at all levels.'
The arrest of the two younger suspects was made by officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division who were on patrol at Rivervale Mall in Sengkang at 4.50pm.
The officers noticed two men behaving suspiciously.
When approached, the two men were found to have of cans of paint and slips of paper containing debtor records.
They are believed to have been involved in several in cases of loan-shark harassment activities in Hougang, Woodlands and Boon Keng.
The officers were commended by the commander of the Ang Mo Kio Police Division HQ, deputy assistant commissioner Hsu Sin Yun for their alertness, which led to the arrest of the two suspects.
Hedy Khoo
NO MERCY FOR MONEYLENDERS
8 men arrested for loan shark activities
June 15, 2009
CONFISCATED: The items that were retrieve by police. TNP FILE PICTURE
Police arrested eight men in one day on 11 Jun, all for suspected loan-shark harassment activities.
IT was a Black Thursday for the illegal moneylending business last week.
Six men, aged 25 to 37, suspected to belong to a loan-shark syndicate, were nabbed in an islandwide raid that lasted over eight and a half hours last Thursday, while two others, aged 17 and 21, were arrested in a separate incident by officers on patrol in Sengkang.
The loan-shark syndicate was also suspected to be involved in illegal soccer bookmaking activities, according to preliminary police investigations.
Four suspects from the syndicate and the two caught by patrol officers were charged in court yesterday morning for assisting in an unlicensed moneylending business under the Moneylenders' Act 2008.
One of the syndicate members was charged for assisting in the carrying on of a public lottery under the Common Gaming Houses Act.
There is one suspect currently released on bail.
The coordinated raid, which took place from 3.30pm to 11pm, saw officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department conducting raids at several places simultaneously.
Among the locations raided were Beatty Road, Bukit Purmei, Jalan Besar and Upper East Coast Road.
Police seized cash of about $40,000, computers, mobile phones, storage media, and suspected debtor records.
The assistant director of the specialised crime division and criminal investigation department, Superintendent Goh Lam Kiong, commended the officers who conducted the raid on their efforts.
He said that this operation showed the insidious links between loan-shark syndicates and other crimes such as illegal bookmaking.
Added Superintendent Goh: 'Police will not hesitate to take action against such criminal organisations at all levels.'
The arrest of the two younger suspects was made by officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division who were on patrol at Rivervale Mall in Sengkang at 4.50pm.
The officers noticed two men behaving suspiciously.
When approached, the two men were found to have of cans of paint and slips of paper containing debtor records.
They are believed to have been involved in several in cases of loan-shark harassment activities in Hougang, Woodlands and Boon Keng.
The officers were commended by the commander of the Ang Mo Kio Police Division HQ, deputy assistant commissioner Hsu Sin Yun for their alertness, which led to the arrest of the two suspects.
Hedy Khoo
