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Fair-complexioned man wearing a green round-neck T-shirt and dark-coloured jeans. Seen outside a flat in an HDB block in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 last November. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE Anyone with information may call the police hotline on 1800-255-000
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DO YOU know these men?
Closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) have recorded illegal loan-shark activities and police, which issued images of these four men, hope someone will recognise them.
The men - all seem to be in their 20s - may be able to help with investigations into three harassment cases over the past two months.
They are believed to be linked to unlicensed moneylending activities.
The first case involves a bespectacled, fair-complexioned man wearing a green round-neck T-shirt and dark-coloured jeans. He was last seen outside a flat in an HDB block in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 in November last year.
Another man was seen outside the same unit in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 a month later.
Also fair-complexioned, he was wearing a light-coloured T-shirt and grey jeans. Also, he seemed to be holding a spray paint can.
In the third case, two fair-complexioned men were spotted along the corridor of an HDB block in Bedok Reservoir Road last month.
One had highlighted hair and wore a light-coloured round-
neck T-shirt and bermuda shorts. The other man was wearing a black round-neck T-shirt and dark-coloured bermudas.
In 2005, laws against illegal moneylending and related activities were tightened. While mandatory jail terms were introduced for repeat offenders, fines were doubled for first-timers.
This means that, currently, first-time loan sharks face fines from $20,000 to $200,000 as well as a jail term of up to two years or both.
Recalcitrant loan sharks face the same range of fines and a compulsory jail term of up to five years.
Those guilty of harassing victims for the first time also face fines of between $4,000 and $40,000, and jail terms of up to three years or both. Repeat offenders face fines and enhanced jail terms.
Police set up an Anti-unlicensed Moneylenders task force three years ago.
Their efforts seem to have paid off, with 577 loan-shark harassment charges pressed in the Subordinate Courts in 2006. This was twice 2005's 227 charges.
Arrests in the first nine months of last year, however, show these activities are not waning. There were 277 arrests from January to September last year, just 17 shy of the number of people arrested in the whole of 2006.
In the same nine months last year, there were 7,438 reported cases of illegal moneylending and related activities. In 2006, there were 10,221 reported cases.
carolynq@sph.com.sg
Anyone with information may call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000
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