Police arrest 3 for suspected loansharking activities

The police have arrested two men and one woman for allegedly helping loansharks with their activities.

In the first case, a 28-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman were arrested by officers from Jurong Police Division at 12pm on Thursday. Investigations showed that they were debtors-turned-runners who had assisted loansharks to open bank accounts for their businesses. Both suspects had also given their ATM cards and personal identification numbers to the loansharks.

On the same evening, another group of officers arrested a 51-year-old man after items such as a mobile phone containing suspected debtors' records and a stack of bank transaction receipts were found in his possession. The suspect, also a debtor-turned-runner, is believed to have assisted loansharks by performing ATM fund transactions.

Under the Moneylenders Act, first-time offenders found guilty of assisting an unlicensed moneylender may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, jailed not more than four years and may also be caned not more than six strokes.