Image via Straits Times
Brilio.net/en - On July 7, Standard Chartered bank at Holland Village in Singapore notified police that a Western man escaped with SG$30,000 (US$22,000) in cash after a quiet robbery. The robber reportedly slipped a piece of paper to the bank teller. The note said he was armed, and that the teller should give him the cash immediately. For her own safety, the teller complied, and handed over a stack of bank notes.
The branch closed right after the incident, and filed a police report immediately. "We would like to highlight that the safety of our customers and staff is top priority and our branch staff are all well-trained to react to such situations," said Standard Chartered in a statement.
A resident of the Chip Bee Gardens estate, across the street from the bank, told Straits Times that police later came by inquiring about a photo they had of a Caucasian man wearing a grey hoodie and mustard pants.
Silent robbery
The robber was able to escape without the use of force. This was either planned by the suspect, or it was just dumb luck. At the time, there was no security guard present in the bank. Bank robberies are rare in Singapore, which could account for seemingly lax security measures. The last known incident occurred back in November 2008, when a man dressed as a woman attempted to rob a United Overseas Bank branch at City Plaza on Geylang Road.
The Standard Chartered robber was also able to escape quietly due to the fact that no one sounded the alarm at the bank. In fact, many folks in and around the area only started to realize something was wrong after police arrived on the scene.
I knew something had happened only when I saw officers wearing bulletproof vests running past our shop, said Jasmine Tan, who works nearby at The Body Shop, four lots from the bank, as quoted by TNP.
Escape to Thailand
Image via Straits Times
After a couple days of investigation, the suspect was arrested in Bangkok, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) announced on July 11. The suspect was identified as David James Roach from Canada. He was arrested at the Boxpacker Hostel near Bangkoks Pratunam shopping center, and tens of thousands of US dollars were discovered in his room.
"Police, through the investigations, managed to establish the identity of the suspect on the same day but he had already left Singapore for Bangkok, shortly after the crime was reported," SPF told Channel News Asia.
Because the robbery happened in Singapore, local authorities wrote to Thai authorities to extradite the robber back to Singapore. In addition, Singapore has made a mutual legal assistance request to Thai authorities to forward the evidence seized from the suspect, said the SPF on July 19.
If the Thai authorities are unable to return the suspect directly to Singapore, we will pursue the suspects return from whichever country Thailand eventually decides to send the suspect to, SPF added.
In the same statement, SPF also said the arrest was the result of strong cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Singapore and Thailand. Today, Thailand says Roach will indeed be sent abroad, although it has not made clear which country that will be.
Author: Ketut Krisna Wijaya via Content Collision
(brl/red)
