Police have arrested four youths aged between 17 to 18 years old for snatch theft and robbery.

On 29 August 2010 at about 3.10am, a case of snatch theft was reported at Geylang Serai Malay Village whereby a stall assistant had his handphone snatched away by three unknown youths. Investigations revealed that the trio had also attempted to rob another stall assistant at the same location of his waist pouch (which contained the day's earnings) before fleeing the scene.

Through extensive follow-up investigations, officers from Bedok Police Division managed to establish the suspects’ identities. On 31 Aug 2010 at about 2.40 pm, simultaneous raids were conducted at the suspects' residences at Circuit Road and Bedok Reservoir Road where three of them were arrested. One of them is also believed to be involved in a case of robbery with hurt along Kallang Road together with two of the suspects. A fourth suspect was separately arrested the following day in the vicinity of Havelock Road.

Three of the suspects will be charged in Court on 2 September 2010 for the offence of Snatch Theft under Section 356 of the Penal Code Chapter 224. If convicted, they faces a jail term of up to 7 years and shall be liable to caning as well. The fourth suspect will be charged in Court on the same day for an offence of Robbery with Hurt under Section 394 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years imprisonment and caning of not less than 12 strokes. A court order will be sought to remand all 4 suspects for further investigations.

Commander of Bedok Police Division HQ, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Teo Chun Ching, commended his officers for their resourcefulness and good investigative follow-up which led to the arrest of the suspects.