SINGAPORE - Police have arrested 18 people for their suspected involvement in loanshark activities.

Between Tuesday and Thursday, officers from Jurong Police Division launched an operation covering housing estates including Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio and Jurong West.

Eleven men and seven women, aged between 24 and 49 were nabbed.

The 18 suspects are believed to be former debtors, who have opened bank accounts and given their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards as well as the Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) to loanshark syndicates for their unlicensed moneylending businesses.

Investigations are ongoing.

Under the Moneylenders Act, first-time offenders convicted of carrying on or helping the business of an unlicensed moneylender may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, jailed up to four years and given up to six strokes of the cane.