The Singapore Police Force have arrested a 52-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of housebreaking and theft, which took place at Seu Teck Sean Tong Yiang Sin Sia (修德善堂养心社), a temple located along Bedok North Ave 3, on the morning of Jul. 12, 2023.

In a Jul. 15 statement, the police revealed that they were alerted to the case of housebreaking at around 7:20am on Wednesday.

A donation safe box, trolley, and cash from donation boxes were reported stolen.

Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from CCTVs and police cameras, officers from the Bedok Police Division established the man's identity and arrested him on Jul. 14.

The donation safe box, trolley, and cash of about S$90 were recovered.

The man was to be charged in court on Jul. 15 with the offence of housebreaking and theft, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine, and caning.

Background

In an interview with Shin Min Daily News, the temple caretaker, surnamed Yu (transliteration from Mandarin), shared that he found out that a 200kg safe box, which was placed outside a temporary tent to serve as an offerings box, had gone missing after he arrived at the temple on Wednesday morning at around 7am.

The tent, which currently houses thousands of spirit tablets, was erected after the temple embarked on an expansion and renovation project in June 2023.

Besides the missing safe box, Yu said the lock on one of the offering boxes on the left side of the temple was also picked, and the money inside was gone.

A damaged trolley was found at the scene, while another one went missing. The former had a damaged wheel, which Yu believed was broken while the culprit transported the safe box outside the temple.

While the temple had yet to tabulate the total offerings money for two weeks as it was the non-peak season for the temple, Yu estimated the loss would be between S$3,000 and S$5,000.

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Top images via Shin Min Daily News & Unsplash