Six arrested in anti-loansharking operation

[Vultan]

Six arrested in anti-loansharking operation
Posted: 29 January 2011 1454 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Police have arrested 3 men and 3 women, aged between 16 and 44 years old, in an anti-loansharking operation.

Officers from Bedok Police Division conducted a series of raids at housing units in Tampines and Pasir Ris, resulting in the arrests on Thursday.

Police said that automated teller machine cards, bank transaction receipts and mobile phones were also seized.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the six suspects, one of whom was a student, had assisted the loansharks in their businesses by carrying out bank transfers.

Under the Moneylenders Act, first-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender, may be fined not less than S$30,000 and not more than S$300,000, be jailed for a term not exceeding 4 years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning with not more than 6 strokes.

-CNA/ac