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Man sentenced to 20 months in prison Stealing luggage from fellow passengers in a singapore airlines flight.
On August 7, 26-year-old Liu Ming boarded a flight from Dubai to Singapore and tried to steal something from the bags of an Azerbaijani man and his wife in the business class.
Liu, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to one count of theft.
The court heard Liu boarded the flight with the intention of stealing high-value items from other business class passengers.
Liu was seated five rows in front of a 52-year-old Azerbaijani business class passenger and one row in front of the victim’s wife.
In the early morning of August 8, after dinner was over and the cabin lights were dimmed, Liu tried to take action.
The victim was sleeping soundly. His wife woke up from a nap and saw Liu walking to her husband’s seat, taking out the victim’s luggage from the overhead luggage compartment and moving it back to her seat.
The victim’s wife confronted the man and alerted the crew after not understanding his reaction. After realizing that he was in trouble, Liu returned to the victim’s seat and put his luggage back in the original compartment.
Mr. Liu told the flight attendant that he took the wrong luggage after getting it mixed up with his own bag. The crew informed staff at Changi Airport and Liu was arrested upon arrival at the airport.
The victim’s bag contained items worth more than S$100,000 (£57,625). The items included cash and a Huawei laptop worth about S$2,100, 56 cigars worth more than S$5,400, Chopard watches worth more than S$35,000 and Audemars Piguet watches worth more than S$51,000.
The court heard nothing was found missing as the victim’s wife confronted Liu shortly after he removed his luggage from the carriage.
Police said Liu was uncooperative during the investigation and continued to deny the theft, insisting it was a mistake.
But Liu’s bag was completely different from the victim’s bag, both in appearance and material.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Xie Wenjie sought a maximum sentence of 20 months in prison.
“Singapore’s national carrier’s rampant theft crimes will damage its reputation and the reputation of Singapore’s tourism industry,” he said.
Previously, another Chinese man, Zhang Kun, was sentenced to 10 months in prison in May for stealing other people’s belongings. Passengers traveling on Scoot flights.
On March 16, he was arrested on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore for stealing the victim’s backpack from the overhead compartment.