<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Neighbour told to act as loan-shark runner
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->EARLY this week, my front door and gate were splashed with red paint when no one was at home. The unit number of a flat below my level and two telephone numbers were scrawled on the wall of the staircase landing.
I called one of the numbers and a loan shark told me he committed the acts because the debtor had provoked him when he threatened to harass the neighbouring units. He then asked me to get the debtor to pay up or else the harassment would continue. In other words, he expected me to be his runner!
I made a police report and the officers also took a statement from the debtor in the other unit.
According to her, her husband's friend had borrowed from the loan shark, using her husband's identity card. She told the loan shark to 'do what you like' as her husband's friend was the one who had borrowed the money.
She had also made several police reports when red paint was splashed on her immediate neighbours' front doors and gates.
If the police had been informed of such harassment in our block, I wonder why patrols have not been stepped up to nab the culprits.
Sightings of policemen making their rounds are rare in this vicinity, despite the numerous police reports. We should not be surprised that the thugs are getting bolder and more blatant as they now target flats above the debtor's unit.
Furthermore, who is liable for the cost of cleaning up this vandalism?
Josephine Tay (Mdm)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->EARLY this week, my front door and gate were splashed with red paint when no one was at home. The unit number of a flat below my level and two telephone numbers were scrawled on the wall of the staircase landing.
I called one of the numbers and a loan shark told me he committed the acts because the debtor had provoked him when he threatened to harass the neighbouring units. He then asked me to get the debtor to pay up or else the harassment would continue. In other words, he expected me to be his runner!
I made a police report and the officers also took a statement from the debtor in the other unit.
According to her, her husband's friend had borrowed from the loan shark, using her husband's identity card. She told the loan shark to 'do what you like' as her husband's friend was the one who had borrowed the money.
She had also made several police reports when red paint was splashed on her immediate neighbours' front doors and gates.
If the police had been informed of such harassment in our block, I wonder why patrols have not been stepped up to nab the culprits.
Sightings of policemen making their rounds are rare in this vicinity, despite the numerous police reports. We should not be surprised that the thugs are getting bolder and more blatant as they now target flats above the debtor's unit.
Furthermore, who is liable for the cost of cleaning up this vandalism?
Josephine Tay (Mdm)
.
