SINGAPORE: Helmi Ali was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on May 16 when he noticed something was amiss about a fellow passenger’s behaviour.
A man was rifling through a “very executive-looking” bag that had been stowed in the overhead luggage compartment, as if he was searching for something.
“I thought it was odd already because the bag didn’t look like it belonged to him, but I didn’t want to confront him without evidence,” said the 41-year-old legal recruiter.
His suspicions were confirmed when the man disembarked without the bag after the plane landed.
After Helmi identified and approached the bag’s owner, who discovered a credit card was missing from the bag, the pair chased and caught up with the man, leading to his eventual arrest for theft.
Helmi was presented with a public spiritedness award by the police on May 30 for his role in the incident.
“You read about this (kind of) stuff in the papers, but when it’s happening right in front of your eyes, you have to do something,” he said, adding a reminder that people should look after their valuables in public places.
In a statement by the police on May 31, commander of the airport police division AC M Malathi thanked Helmi for his “unwavering commitment to keeping our airports safe”.
She added that the airport police will continue to work with airlines to keep passengers, cabins and aircrafts safe and secure.
During the flight, Helmi was sitting in the same row as the 30-year-old man subsequently arrested for theft, and observed that the man had hurriedly gone to the toilet after rummaging through the bag.
At a security bag check area in the airport where he and the bag’s owner found the man, Mr Helmi told airport security what he had seen. The police were called, and the man was arrested for theft.
The offence of theft carries a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both. - The StraitsTimes/ANN
