Man gets jail for stealing fellow passenger's credit card during AirAsia flight from KL to Singapore
Composite photos show Chinese national Jiang Yangbo (left) and a file photo of an AirAsia plane on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) in Sepang, Malaysia. (Photos: Singapore Police Force/REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin)
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SINGAPORE: A 30-year-old man was sentenced to seven months’ jail after he stole a credit card belonging to another passenger while on a flight to Singapore, police said in a news release on Friday (Sep 20).
Jiang Yangbo, a Chinese national, was a passenger on board AirAsia flight AK719 departing Kuala Lumpur on May 16 when he removed a fellow passenger's blue laptop bag from the overhead compartment.
The victim, Jin Chengjie, a 36-year-old Chinese national working in Singapore, was seated one row in front of him.
Placing the bag on his lap, Jiang rummaged through it, took Jin’s Citibank credit card and put it into his right rear pocket, court documents show.
He then returned the laptop bag to the overhead compartment and went to the bathroom, before returning to his seat.
However, another passenger seated on the same row as Jiang saw what happened, and noticed after the plane landed at Changi Airport that Jiang had only a black sling bag with him.
Upon realising the laptop bag belonged to Jin, the passenger told him that he saw Jiang taking something from the bag. The victim soon realised his card was missing and quickly cancelled the card.
Jiang, who was waiting to disembark nearby at the aisle, noticed the exchange and tossed the credit card into the overhead compartment to avoid being caught.
The card was later found by another passenger, and investigations showed that the card was not misused.
At the airport, the victim and witness approached an auxiliary police officer, who arrested Jiang. He was convicted and sentenced last Friday.
“The police have zero tolerance against acts of theft on board an aircraft and will spare no effort to apprehend such offenders, who will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law,” said the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
The police advised members of the public to protect themselves from being victims of crime on planes by always keeping their valuables with them instead of placing them in the overhead luggage compartments.
They should also be wary for passengers who are seen opening the overhead compartment, retrieving baggage and rummaging through them during a flight. Cabin crew should be alerted immediately of any suspicious behaviour, police added.
