Serial crab thief caught after trying to pinch 11 crabs from claw machine

Two men were recently caught in some fishy business at a local seafood restaurant. Their crime? Pinching some crabs.

The men were arrested on Monday (Sept 21) evening after a bungled attempt to steal 11 Sri Lankan crabs worth about $1,000 from House of Seafood, police confirmed.

One of them, aged 59, was arrested for theft, while the other, 64, was arrested for receiving stolen property.

An employee of the restaurant told Lianhe Wanbao that an eagle-eyed customer had alerted her to the theft.

The customer had spotted one of the men crouching behind a claw machine in the restaurant, reaching into its attached glass tank and stashing the loot in his bag, she said.

"At the time, I was doubtful. But when I turned to have a look, I saw that all the crabs in the tank were gone," she recalled, adding that the tank would typically be filled with about 10 crabs, each weighing about 1kg.

When the employee confronted the man, he turned impatient and reportedly retorted that he would return the crabs before retrieving three crabs from his bag and throwing them on the ground.

He then turned and attempted to make off with the rest of his loot, but resorted to throwing out the remaining three crabs in his bag when he saw that the employee was still on his tail.

Holding onto his bag, she notified her manager of the situation via walkie talkie and asked him to call the police, she said.

The man later escaped to a nearby bus stop, where he was subdued by three members of the public and arrested by the police.

A second man, reportedly his accomplice, was also caught with five other stolen crabs and arrested at the scene.

Investigations are ongoing.

According to the owner of House of Seafood, Francis Ng, this is not the first time the man has stolen from them.

"According to our surveillance footage, the man stole crabs in January, February and April," Ng told the Chinese daily.

"The first two times, he stole about 15 crabs. The last time was the most egregious. He stole a whole basket of over 40 crabs."

He would strike when the restaurant was at its busiest at around 8pm, Ng added.

It was only when the restaurant was taking stock of its inventory that they noticed the missing crabs, Ng said, estimating his total losses to be upwards of $10,000.

This isn't the first time the restaurant's claw machine has been in the news.

In October last year, local animal welfare group SPCA and members of the public slammed the restaurant after it emerged that they had filled the machine with live crabs and allowed guests to catch the critters at $5 a pop.

In the wake of the controversy, the restaurant issued a public apology and replaced the live crabs within the machine with boxes depicting the restaurant's various dishes instead.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com