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7 arrested for suspected involvement in loansharking activities
Published on Sep 1, 2011
By Elizabeth Soh
Police on Wednesday arrested seven suspects aged 21 to 56 for suspected involvement in loansharking activities. The arrests took place after officers from Clementi Police Division followed up on several incidents of loanshark harassment reported between March and July this year.
Preliminary investigations revealed that three of the suspects had opened bank accounts and gave away their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to loansharking syndicates to facilitate their illegal businesses.
The four remaining suspects are believed to be debtors who had obtained loans from loansharks by using their previous residential addresses, which resulted in the new residents facing the brunt of loanshark harassment. Investigations against all the suspects - five men and two women - are ongoing.
In addition to offences under the Moneylenders Act, four of the five suspects are also being investigated for failing to report the change in their residential addresses under the National Registration Act.
Those found using their unchanged address to take loans from loansharks resulting in the new owners being subjected to harassment will be prosecuted with the offence of providing false contact information, which carries a heavier punishment than the offence of failing to report change of address.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
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