Police have arrested a 43-year-old man who is believed to have stolen more than $15,000 worth of jewellery from 2 goldsmith shops in the space of 24 hours.

On 26 July 2010 at about 4.00 pm , the Police were alerted to a case of theft at a goldsmith shop at Bukit Merah Central. Earlier at 2pm , a man had entered the shop to look at jewellery on the pretext of buying them for his girlfriend. After having picked out $$10,000 worth of jewellery, the man informed the staff that he was going out for a short while to show the jewellery to his girlfriend and would come back to confirm the purchase thereafter. However, he took off with the jewellery and did not return.

Investigations revealed that there was a similar case the day before ( 25 July 2010 ) at a goldsmith shop at Tanglin Halt where a male suspect had made off with about S$6020/- worth of jewellery. Based on CCTV footage retrieved from both jewellery shops, it was believed that the same suspect was responsible for both cases.

Following extensive investigations, officers from Clementi Police Division managed to establish the suspect’s identity and arrested him at Sentosa at about 10.00 pm the same day ( 26 July 2010 ). Some of the stolen jewellery, pawnshop tickets and cash believed to be proceeds from pawning some of the stolen jewellery were also recovered from the suspect's possession.

The suspect will be charged in Court on 28 July 2010 for Theft in Dwelling under Section 380 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 7 years and shall be liable to fine.

Commander of Clementi Police Division, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Melvin Yong commended his officers for their excellent investigative work and swift action which led to the successful arrest of the suspect. He also advised owners of goldsmith outlets to be wary of such ruses and to adopt the following crime prevention measures: