Chinese national Zhang Kun had allegedly retrieved the victim’s bag from an overhead compartment while the latter was away from his seat. - Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: A thief on a plane thought he could scoot after stealing a fellow passenger’s cash and credit card, but was nabbed after an eyewitness alerted the victim.
On Tuesday (May 6), Chinese national Zhang Kun, 51, admitted to one charge of theft. He will be sentenced at a later date.
The incident happened on March 16 night on board a Scoot flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.
The victim is a 35-year-old Singaporean who was seated with his fiancee three rows in front of Zhang.
Upon boarding, the victim placed his haversack in the overhead compartment above his row.
During the flight, the couple left their seats to join their friends at the back of the plane for a birthday celebration.
Zhang quickly went to the overhead compartment above the victim’s row, took the haversack back to his seat, and stole $200 and RM100 in cash, and a DBS credit card from the victim’s wallet.
He then put the wallet back into the haversack and returned it to the overhead compartment.
But Zhang did not know a Singaporean man sitting next to him, K. Visvanathan, 59, was watching his actions the whole time.
After the flight landed at Changi Airport, Visvanathan approached the victim to ask if the haversack belonged to him, and then told him he had seen Zhang taking items from the bag.
The victim checked and found that some of his belongings were missing. Visvanathan then pointed him in Zhang’s direction.
Catching up with Zhang, the victim confronted him and also got the bank to block his stolen credit card. Meanwhile, his fiancee called the police.
The police subsequently arrested Zhang, but could not recover the stolen items as Zhang had already disposed of them.
Court documents did not state how Zhang did so, but said he went to the toilet several times before the police arrived.
Investigations revealed he had accomplices on board the same Scoot flight.
Zhang was scheduled to depart for Hong Kong as a transit passenger on another Scoot flight on March 17 at 2am. His accomplices were similarly in transit to Hong Kong.
In his initial statements to the police, Zhang did not admit to stealing the items nor reveal what he did with them.
For committing theft, an offender could be jailed for up to three years and fined. - The Straits Times/ANN
