11 suspects arrested in police raid against loan sharking

In a raid against loan sharking conducted by the police, nine men and two women were arrested islandwide, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) informed on Thursday (22 Dec).

Police officers from Jurong Division conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations in Singapore during the three-day operation from Monday to Wednesday, resulting in arrests of suspects aged 15 to 66, SPF notified.

Based on preliminary investigations, three suspects are believed to be harassers who splashed paints on the doors of public housing estates, locked the gates of debtors’ residences with bicycle locks, and scribbled a graffiti related to loan shark on the wall outside the residential unit.

One of these three suspects will be charged in court on Friday while investigations against the other two suspects are ongoing, SPF said.

Two suspects are alleged to be runners who assisted the loan sharks in their business by carrying out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers.

The other six suspects are believed to have helped the the crime of unlicensed money lending businesses by opening bank accounts and giving their ATM cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to the loan sharks

Investigations against them are also ongoing, the police informed in the media release.

Those who are found guilty of loan shark harassment for the first time are liable to a fine of between S$5,000 and S$50,000 and jailed of up to five years, as well as caning of up to six strokes.

First-time offenders as unlicensed moneylender or assisting in the business of unlicensed moneylending may be fined between S$30,000 and S$300,000 or imprisonment for up to four years, and will also be punished with up to six strokes of the cane.