JB condo residents claim man from Singapore stole their parcels

When their parcels went missing, several residents of a condominium in Johor Bahru thought the items were mistakenly collected by others.

It turned out that the packages had been stolen by a couple, with the man allegedly holding a Singapore identity card.

One of the residents at Austin Suites condo told Shin Min Daily News she could not find her parcel on July 25, despite having received a delivery notification earlier that day.

"I thought someone had mistakenly taken it and waited three to four days to see if they would return the package.

"But that didn't happen, so I gave feedback to the condo management," said the woman surnamed Shen.

On July 29, the condo management showed Shen CCTV footage of a couple taking parcels from the mailroom.

She uploaded the videos to Xiaohongshu last Friday (Aug 2) to appeal for help in identifying the suspects.

In the clip dated July 25, the man filches two parcels left on the top of a row of mailboxes while the woman looks around the room, tiptoeing to peek at a mailbox.

Another clip dated July 26, provided to Shen by a neighbour, shows the man casually rifling through a stack of packages and taking two of them.

Meanwhile, the woman bends down briefly to check a mailbox before she turns around and swipes a parcel placed on the ground.

Similarly, another affected condo resident called upon netizens to help identify the man in a Facebook post on Friday, and offered a RM100 ($30) reward.

"You steal parcels as if you're choosing vegetables while shopping," read one of his hashtags.

Man allegedly swiped parcels from other condominiums

Shen told Shin Min that the condo management informed her that the couple had rented a unit in the complex via Airbnb.

"The man used a Singapore identity card to rent the apartment and was supposed to stay for one month, but the couple hurriedly checked out on July 28," she said, adding that she has lodged a report with the Malaysian police.

Following her Xiaohongshu post, Shen received messages from netizens living in other condominiums in Mount Austin, who alleged that the same duo used the same modus operandi to steal packages.

The resident also expressed doubts about the man's identity, as other victims claimed he had used a Malaysian identity card to make Airbnb bookings in other condos in the area.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com