A 14-year-old boy was arrested by the police yesterday (23 April) after allegedly snatching two gold chains worth about $23,000 from a jewellery shop in Chinatown, after pretending to browse through the items.
He was caught on the CCTV footage looking at the gold chains when the shop owner turned around and faced away from him, and the boy then took off running with the gold chains in hand.
He was eventually caught after the shop owner gave chase to him.
The boy had earlier entered the shop, Chung Hwa Jade & Jewellery at Chinatown, wearing a face mask at about 5.30 pm, and told the shop owner at the counter, 45-year-old Mr Teng Wei Siong, that he wanted to look at two gold chains.
Teng, who runs the family owned business with his brother, said that he took out two gold chains to show the boy, but the latter then requested to see some heavier chains.
The shop owner then took out two other heavier gold chains to show the boy, as he then turned his back to put the earlier gold chains back into their casings.
CCTV footage then showed that at Teng’s back was turned, the boy then told the gold chains and fled the scene, running out of the shop.
Teng turned around and saw what happened and started chasing after the boy along with his 39-year-old brother Teng Wei Xin, and they managed to catch and restrain him.
They then brought the boy back into their shop before calling the police for help.
The Singapore Police Force said that they were alerted to the incident on Sunday at about 5.30pm and arrested the boy.
On the chains that he showed to the boy, the older Teng said that the first set of gold chains weighed 50 and 80 grams, with the second set weighing 100 and 130 grams and being worth about $23.000.
He said that he and his brother have forgiven the boy as they have already gotten their stolen items back, and added that the boy is still young and made a mistake.
At the time of writing, police investigations into the incident are still underway.