Woman arrested after about $3,000 stolen from vegetable stalls at Marine Terrace Market

The police have caught a woman believed to be stealing money from vendors at the Marine Terrace Market.

Yesterday, the police said a 64-year-old woman was arrested in relation to the case.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the thief had allegedly stolen about $3,000 from two vegetable stalls at the market.

One of the victims, who wanted to be known only as Mr Cai and runs a stall with his two brothers, told the Chinese newspaper that money had been stolen at least five times in the last two months, with the thief coming once every few weeks.

The last time the thief struck was last Sunday.

Mr Cai said the thief would usually steal from the stall between 8am and 10am.

He said: "Each of us is in charge of different vegetables, so we collect money separately. For convenience, we put the money in a basket. I believe the thief took advantage of the busy period to steal from us."

He added that after the thefts, he had installed a surveillance camera at the stall. But he could not rewind the footage to the time of the incident to check what the thief looks like.

His older brother said the thief would steal around $100 to $200 at a time, and they had lost more than $1,000 in total.

Before the theft, the brothers kept only cash valued at more than $50 separately, but they have since started keeping $10 notes separately and leaving only smaller notes and coins in the common money basket, the younger Mr Cai said.

Another stall owner at the market told Shin Min that the second stall that had lost money is run by a couple.

According to the stall owner, the couple were very upset when they found their money container, which had more than $1,000, was stolen last Thursday.

The owner of a dry goods store, who wanted to be known only as Ms Wang, said she has been storing her cash in a money bag she carries on her body to prevent theft.

The New Paper understands that the suspect is assisting with police investigations.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.