SINGAPORE - A hotel chef was jailed for six weeks on Tuesday for stealing abalone from his employer.

Ng Jin Sern, 35, was employed by Concorde Hotel in Orchard Road when he ordered 24 cans of abalone worth $1,248 online on June 7 last year.

When the abalone was delivered the next day, he collected the items personally and placed them underneath his workstation in the hotel kitchen.

He would then take the abalone home by placing them inside his bag and walking out of the hotel. He later sold them to a shop in Bugis for $552.

Earlier on May 8, he made an online order for 24 cans of abalone worth $1,368 and stole them the next day when the goods were delivered.

He later sold them to a shop in Bugis for $552.

He did not pay his employer back for the stolen abalone.

Ng pleaded guilty to the two charges and had three other similar charges as well as an attempted theft taken into consideration during his sentencing.

Ng, who is now unemployed, has a previous conviction for attempted theft in August 2012. He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each charge of "theft as a servant".