Four technicians tasked to clean and service Police Coast Guard (PCG) patrol crafts decided to siphon petrol for their own vehicles instead.
After their first attempt was a success, the group did it three more times and made off with 100 litres of petrol in July 2023.
They were caught after a manager from their company found residual petrol in equipment used by the group.
Alden Teo Chee Kiat, 32, Muhammad Khairullah Abdullah, 31, Muhammad Rizuan Leman, 34, and Muhammad Shahzwan Hissam, 33, were sentenced to jail on Feb. 14, 2024, according to The Straits Times.
The men were also ordered to compensate for the stolen petrol, which was valued at S$183.04.
The plan
The court heard that Teo, Khairullah, Rizuan and Shahzwan were service technicians working for Lungteh Shipbuilding.
Their firm had been contracted by PCG to service and maintain the patrol crafts at their Lim Chu Kang base.
Their tasks included cleaning the PCG crafts’ engines and generators and changing the engine oil.
However, the four men realised the craft ran on petrol, so they devised a scheme to siphon some of it for their own use.
They would store the petrol in a 30-litre jerry can and 10-litre manual pneumatic fluid extractor, and hide them at their company’s workshop nearby.
Filled up vehicles with stolen petrol
The men first executed their plan on Jul. 3, 2023, siphoning around 40 litres of petrol.
Teo topped up his car with the stolen petrol, while the rest used it to refill their motorcycles.
The men then used the same method to steal another 60 litres of petrol on Jul. 4, Jul. 10 and Jul. 11.
On Aug. 2, 2023, however, alarm bells rang when a branch manager of Lungteh Shipbuilding noticed petrol inside one of the firm’s manual pneumatic fluid extractors.
He subsequently lodged a police report and the group was arrested.
Pleaded for leniency
All four turned up in court together on Feb. 14, 2024.
None were represented by a lawyer.
In mitigation, Teo told the court that he was affected by the incident as he was not used to being on the wrong side of the law.
He shared that he felt people looked at him differently as a result.
Khairullah pleaded for leniency as he just got a new job and a new house, and said he regretted his actions.
Additionally, Rizuan and Shahzwan said they were sole breadwinners in their household.
Sentencing
Teo was sentenced to a three-week jail term, while Rizuan and Shahzwan were sentenced to a month in jail each.
Khairullah got the longest sentence among the group, with one month and one week in jail.
As for compensation, Teo was ordered to pay back S$45.76, and Rizuan and Shahzwan had to pay S$54.91 each, while Khairullah had to compensate S$101.65.
The amount of compensation also factored in separate incidents of stealing petrol involving Rizuan, Shahzwan and Khairullah.
For committing theft in a vessel, the men could have been punished with up to seven year's jail, and a fine.
Top image from Singapore Police Force / Facebook.