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Tadakatsu Honda
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May 14, 2010
30 nabbed in police raids
<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> POLICE have arrested 27 men and three women in an islandwide operation from Thursday to Friday for suspected involvement in loansharking activities. All except one of them are believed to have allowed their bank accounts to be used for loansharking activities while one was arrested for loanshark harassment at Hougang public housing estate, said police. During the 18-hour islandwide operation, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division conducted simultaneous raids at Jurong, Clementi, Commonwealth, Telok Blangah, Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio, Shunfu Road, Hougang, Punggol, Bedok and Tampines.
Preliminary investigation revealed that 29 of the suspects had facilitated the unlicensed moneylending business of the loansharking syndicates by opening bank accounts and giving away their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards with their Personal Identification Number (PIN) to the loansharks. At least 20 of them are said to be debtors or guarantors while five of them had opened more than one bank account for the loansharks. One of the suspects was also found to have committed several counts of loanshark harassment by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark graffiti at Hougang public housing estate. Several ATM cards and bank account passbooks were seized as case exhibits. All the bank accounts had been frozen. Investigations are in progress.
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