Chinese national charged for alleged theft onboard Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Scoot flight

A 51-year-old Chinese national has been charged for theft onboard a Scoot flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. 

The police were alerted to the case of alleged theft at 12.20am on Monday (March 17).

According to preliminary investigations, a male passenger witnessed Zhang Kun allegedly taking the victim's bag from the overhead compartment while he was away from his seat.

Zhang allegedly took the bag back to his seat, rummaged through it and hid the victim's belongings in his jacket before returning the bag to the compartment.

The witness alerted the victim, who discovered that a credit card, $200 and RM100 (S$30) were missing from his wallet.

The victim and the witness called the police after they landed at Changi Airport and began looking for Zhang.

He was eventually located within the transit area by the witness and victim and was arrested soon after for suspected theft.

Zhang, who is representing himself in court, pleaded not guilty and denied taking the items. A pre-trial conference will be held on March 27. 

If convicted, he faces an imprisonment term of up to three years, or a fine, or both.

There has been a spate of such incidents recently.

On Feb 4, a Chinese national was arrested after he stole US$885 (S$1,197) on a Singapore-bound flight. 

Zhang Youqi, 30, was seen touching the victim's bag in the overhead compartment and she later discovered a stack of cash missing.

Zhang was sentenced to eight months in jail. 

The police said that there were four cases of people charged with theft on board an aircraft between January 2023 and September 2024. 

One involved a Chinese national who stole the equivalent of about $120,000 from a jeweller on a Singapore Airlines flight in March 2024. 

Passengers are reminded to avoid putting cash and valuables in bags kept in overhead compartments and alert cabin crew of suspicious people rummaging through them during a flight, the police said.  

jengjee.hoon@asiaone.com

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