Couple stole 12 tins of milk powder worth over $1,565 from hypermarket, sold them on Carousell for $1,170
Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
June 13, 2024
A woman went to a Bukit Batok supermarket with her two toddlers, aged two and three, and stole two tins of milk powder worth nearly $280 in total by hiding the loot under her stroller in June 2023.
On another occasion that month, Lorraine Chan Chu Yi went to a Jurong hypermarket with her husband, Lim Soon Leong, 26, and the pair stole 12 tins of milk powder worth more than $1,565 in total.
After that, Lim sold all 12 tins on online marketplace Carousell for $1,170.
Chan, 26, was fined $3,500 on June 13 after she pleaded guilty to two theft charges.
Lim, who was earlier convicted of several offences, including theft, cheating and traffic-related ones, was sentenced to 11 months' jail in May.
He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for three years from his release date.
State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Augustine Arlando told the court that Chan went to the Bukit Batok supermarket with the two toddlers at around 9.40am on June 4, 2023.
They left the premises after she stole two tins of milk powder.
Supermarket staff found out about the missing items during a stock check five days later, and closed-circuit television footage showed Chan committing the offence.
A manager at the supermarket made a police report on June 12 that year.
Separately, Lim and Chan went to the Jurong hypermarket at around 4.30pm on June 7, 2023, and stole 12 tins of milk powder.
The SPO said: "They placed the items in... three storage boxes and proceeded to pick up other items.
"When they went to the self-service payment kiosk of the hypermarket, they scanned and paid for all the items that they had taken, except for the (tins of milk powder) which remained concealed in the three storage boxes."
The couple left the premises soon after, and the hypermarket staff found that some tins of milk powder were missing during a stock check two days later.
A loss prevention officer alerted the police shortly before 3.30pm that day.
Full restitution has been made even though the 14 tins of milk powder were not recovered.
