The police arrested 160 men and 77 women, aged between 13 and 77 years old, for their suspected involvement in loansharking activities in an operation that took place between July 20 and 30, 2020.

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven police land divisions conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations island-wide resulting in the arrests.

Preliminary investigations revealed that 51 suspects are believed to be runners who assisted loansharks by carrying out ATM transfers.

Another 12 are believed to have carried out acts of harassment by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on walls.

The remaining 174 suspects are believed to have opened bank accounts and given away their ATM cards and Personal Identification Numbers to facilitate unlicensed moneylending business.

Investigations against all the suspects are ongoing.

Under the Moneylenders’ Act (Revised Edition 2010), when a bank account or ATM card of any person is used to facilitate moneylending by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted to carry on the business of unlicensed moneylending.

First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the business of unlicensed moneylending may be fined between S$30,000 and S$300,000, be imprisoned for a term of up to four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of up to six strokes.

First-time offenders found guilty of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment will be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of between S$5,000 and S$50,000, and shall also be liable to caning of between three and six strokes.

Members of public are advised to stay away from loansharks and not to work with or assist the loansharks in any way.

The public can call the police at "999" or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in loansharking activities.

Image from Getty