Police have arrested two men aged 27 and 30 years old for suspected involvement in loansharking activities in two separate cases yesterday.

On 18 June 2010 at about 12.00 pm, through follow-up investigations, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division arrested a 27-year-old man for suspected involvement in loansharking activities in the vicinity of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9. Upon his arrest, two Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards were seized as case exhibits. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect is a debtor-turned-runner and had assisted the loanshark in his business by verifying debtors' identity cards, carrying out bank transfers and verifying if harassment had been carried out on debtors' units.

In a separate case, on 18 June 2010 at about 10.20 pm, officers who were on their rounds observed a 30 year-old man behaving suspiciously and making several bank transactions at an ATM in the vicinity of Yishun Avenue 5. As such, the officers moved in and conducted a check on the said subject. He was found in possession of four ATM cards belonging to unknown subjects and several bank transaction slips. Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect is a debtor-turned-runner and had facilitated the business of the loanshark by carrying out bank transfers. All the ATM cards and bank transaction slips were seized as exhibits upon his arrest.

Investigations against the two suspects are still on-going. First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender, may be fined not less than $30,000/- and not more than $300,000/-, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 4 years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning with not more than 6 strokes.

Commander of Ang Mo Kio Police Division, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Hsu Sin Yun commended his officers for their relentless efforts in the fight against loansharks.