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Three nabbed for assisting loansharks
AsiaOne
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
SINGAPORE - Three people aged between 17 and 55 years, have been arrested by police for suspected involvement with loansharking activities in three separate cases.
The first case on May 7, a 55-year-old woman was arrested in Ang Mo Kio at about 4.40pm, for helping loansharks by performing electronic fund transactions using her own bank account.
The police believe that she was a former debtor-turned-runner.
On the same day, at 5.30pm, police officers who were on patrol along Upper Serangoon Road, spotted a 17-year-old teenager behaving suspiciously.
They conducted a check on him and found a mobile phone containing debtors' numbers in it.
Their investigations revealed that he too had helped loansharks perform electronic fund transfers.
They also believe that the teen also helped to recruit potential bank account holders.
On May 8 police were informed of a 31-year-old man behaving suspiciously at the void deck of a block in Yishun Ring Road.
The police officers, who responded to the call, conducted a check on the man.
They found a plastic bag containing cans of paint, markers, as well as a mobile phone containing debtors' records on him.
Their investigations concluded that the man was a debtor-turned-runner who had allegedly committed several cases of loanshark harassment by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on the walls of HDB blocks in Yishun.
First-time offenders found guilty of assisting an unlicensed moneylender, can be fined between $30,000 and $300,000. They may also face a jail term of up to four years and can be caned up to six strokes.
First time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment can be fined between $5,000 and $50,000 with mandatory imprisonment of up to five years and mandatory caning of up to six strokes.
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