Man covers head with plastic bag, breaks into Tiong Bahru coffee shop to steal cash registers

Breaking into a coffee shop in the wee hours of the night, one thief thought that he had found a way to conceal his identity — he covered his head with a plastic bag.

Despite making off with the loot – five cash registers containing more than $700, as well as a mobile phone – the man was arrested on the same day.

The incident happened last Saturday (May 28) at around 2am at a coffee shop along Boon Tiong Road, Shin Min Daily News reported.

In an interview with the Chinese evening daily, one of the stallholders, who declined to reveal his identity, shared that the drinks stall owner opened for business at 5.30am that day, only to realise that the place was in a mess.

Suspecting a burglary, the drinks stall owner called the police immediately and alerted six other stallholders, who then found out that their stalls had also suffered the same fate.

From the CCTV footage, the suspect could be seen cutting the wires that were attached to the electronic cash registers with a pair of scissors. He left the coffee shop with a total of five cash registers. 

Stallholders said they would typically bring back most of their earnings when they closed for business at around 11pm, leaving a small amount of cash inside the cash registers so that they would have spare change for their customers the next day. 

While the incident delayed the coffee shop's opening by more than two hours, stallholders said they are waiting for word from the coffee shop owner on measures preventing such incidents from happening again.

Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from police cameras, the police said they arrested a 55-year-old man in relation to the case. 

The suspect was charged in court on Monday with housebreaking and theft, the police added. 

For housebreaking to commit theft, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com