Scoot passenger discovered cash stolen from bag after plane landed, witness who pointed out thief gets award
It happened on a Scoot flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on the night of March 16.
While a passenger was away from his seat, Chinese national Zhang Kun quickly went to the overhead compartment above the passenger's row and took out a haversack.
The 51-year-old went back to his seat and stole $200 and RM100 (S$30) in cash as well as a DBS credit card from the haversack before returning it to the overhead compartment.
Singaporean K Visvanathan was sitting next to Zhang and witnessed the whole thing.
After the flight landed at Changi Airport, Mr Visvanathan approached the haversack owner to ask if the bag belonged to him and told him that Zhang was seen taking items from the haversack.
The owner checked and found that some of his belongings were missing. Mr Visvanathan then pointed him in Zhang's direction.
The owner caught up with Zhang and confronted him.
The police were alerted to the case on March 17 at 12.16am.
Through follow-up investigations and with the assistance of Mr Visvanathan, officers from the Airport Police Division arrested Zhang at Terminal 1.
On May 28, he was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment for theft onboard an aircraft.
Mr Visvanathan was presented with the Public Spiritedness Award by Commander of Airport Police Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police M. Malathi.
She said: "Theft committed on board an aircraft undermines passengers' trust and their safety during travel.
"I would like to commend Mr Visvanathan for his public-spiritedness. His timely information was instrumental in enabling our officers to take swift action to identify and arrest the accused.
"Such vigilance goes a long way in the swift detection and substantiation of such crimes, which are often challenging to uncover due to their transient nature. He was awarded the Public Spiritedness Award on March 25.
"We hope that his action will serve to inspire others to keep air travel safe for all travellers."
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