Durian stall assistant, 26, steals S$17,300 from employer, loses it all at MBS casino

A durian stall assistant who was handed the passcode to his outlet's safe while covering for his supervisor over Chinese New Year (CNY) ended up stealing S$17,300 from it.

He then lost the entire sum gambling at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

Malaysian national Tan An Sheng, 26, pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to 5 months' jail, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Got the safe passcode standing in for his supervisor

The stall in question was Top Durian Station at Block 154 Bukit Batok Street 11.

During the CNY period from Feb. 18 to 22, 2026, the supervisor of the stall went on leave.

Tan was subsequently assigned to take over the role temporarily.

He was given the safe's passcode for the first time, and made responsible for tallying and reporting each day's profit or loss before depositing the takings into the safe.

During this period when he worked at Top Durian Station, Tan was the only employee who held the passcode; before then, the supervisor had always handled the deposits personally.

Lost S$17,300 at MBS

On Feb. 20 and 22, Tan stole a total of S$17,300 from the safe on two separate occasions.

The first time, he made off with a stack of S$50 notes totalling S$1,000; the second time, he swept up the remaining S$16,300 in cash.

He then took the stolen money to the casino at MBS, hoping to win enough to repay his debts to moneylenders.

Instead, he lost everything.

About 50 customers turned up to "collect debts"

He eventually confessed his crimes to his employer.

The stall's operator, Cai Ming You, told Shin Min that Tan had worked for the company for about eight or nine months before the offence, and that he had initially been unaware Tan had a gambling habit.

The company had originally intended to give Tan a chance by deducting repayments from his salary as restitution, Cai said.

But after repaying around S$2,204, Tan apparently relapsed into his old ways and borrowed money from both customers and neighbouring stallowners to feed his gambling habit.

About 50 customers later came knocking one after another, demanding that Tan repay them, Shin Min reported.

Even after the company made the police report and Tan was arrested, people continued coming to the stall to look for him, Cai said.

Everybody lent him cash

Several stall owners and assistants confirmed that they had lent cash to Tan, according to Shin Min.

Jenny, 37, who runs a fish soup stall, said Tan had told her he had been issued a fine and urgently needed to borrow money.

He looked like an honest person, so she lent it to him without even noting down his contact details, she said.

"When I didn't see him for the next few days, I went to the durian stall to ask for my money back.

That's when I found out he had been borrowing from people, with one person even lending him $1,000. I don't think I'll ever get my money back. I won't be so quick to lend money to others again."

Fong, 43, who owns a nearby Vietnamese grocery shop, said Tan had made similar claims and asked to borrow S$700.

He felt it was only right to help out a "neighbour", only to realise after handing over the money that Tan was a gambler.

"He repaid $400 and said he would pay the rest when he received his salary, but he was arrested.

I didn't make a police report, but I hope he reflects on what he has done."

In mitigation, Tan said he had realised the seriousness of his actions and apologised for damaging the company's business and reputation.

He also expressed remorse to his supervisors and colleagues, and appealed for leniency.