Chinese national jailed for stealing US$88,700 from jeweller on Hong Kong-Singapore flight

A man who stole the equivalent of about S$120,000 (US$88,700) from a jeweller on a Singapore Airlines flight was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ jail on Friday.

Peng Hui, a 54-year-old Chinese national, had initially told the court when he was charged that he did not admit guilt, but eventually pleaded guilty to four charges.

These are for theft, carrying cash exceeding S$20,000 into Singapore without declaring it, converting some of the stolen cash into casino chips and attempting to remit some money to China.

Another four charges were considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Peng was on flight SQ899, which left Hong Kong for Singapore on March 5 this year.

There was another passenger on the plane – a Singaporean jeweller who had gone to Bangkok and Hong Kong to attend trade fairs and was heading home.

The victim had more than 1,000 notes of various denominations in his backpack, including US$131,000 in hundred-dollar bills and HK$122,000 (US$15,630) in five hundred-dollar bills.

During the flight, the jeweller left his bag in the overhead compartment positioned slightly behind his seat.

The compartment of the bag that held the cash was not locked, and the jeweller dozed off at times, or visited the washroom.

Peng had formed the intention to steal from the victim, targeting him because he was carrying a large sum of cash.

While the plane was in flight, Peng surreptitiously removed US$80,000 and another HK$70,000 from the victim’s backpack.

When the victim landed, he passed through the immigration checkpoint and made a declaration for the cash amounts he was carrying.

However, when he got to his office about three hours after landing, he realised a large amount of cash was missing and rushed to report the case.

Peng also