Man casually grabs 9 Black Thorn durians, worth S$240, from Jurong East durian store, puts them in plastic bag & leaves

On Jun. 14, around 3:30 am, a man was caught allegedly stealing nine durians from Hojiak Durians & Fruits - Jurong East via the store's surveillance camera.

The missing durians were discovered later that morning after employees arrived for work.

They noticed that there were obvious gaps in the canvas sheet covering the durian basket, reported Shin Min Daily.

They then checked the CCTV footage and saw that the man had stolen the durians as he walked by.

The owner told Shin Min that he had reported the incident to the police.

What happened

The man, who was wearing a dark T-shirt and shorts, was loitering outside the shop in the wee hours of the morning.

He then walked over to the basket containing the durians and pulled back the canvas sheet, which made several durians fall out of the basket, Shin Min reported.

This startled him, and he quickly left the scene.

Five minutes later, the man returned with several plastic bags in hand.

Based on the footage, he looked around to make sure no one was watching, then filled the plastic bags with the durians before leaving.

S$240 worth of durians

Speaking to Shin Min, the owner of the shop, surnamed Zhou, confirmed that he stole nine Black Thorn durians in total.

Black Thorn durians are a premium variety of the fruit, largely originating from Penang, Malaysia.

Zhou explained that due to the peak durian season, the shop had received an influx of stock. As a result, excess fruits were kept in baskets outside the storefront and secured with canvas sheets.

As the stolen durians were on the smaller side, Zhou estimated the total loss to be around S$240.

Zhou recognised the man, noting that he was a former customer who had not patronised the stall in over a year.

He expressed confusion over why the man resorted to theft.

With the CCTV footage now uploaded on the store's Facebook, he hopes that the man will return to settle the bill.

Zhou added, "Actually, if he really had difficulties and wanted to eat durian, he could have just told us, and we could have treated him to some, but he shouldn't have stolen it. But a day has passed, and he still hasn't come to pay us back."