SINGAPORE – A private-hire driver made off with the driving licences of two men, one of whom was his passenger, and tampered with the documents, replacing their particulars with his own.

After that, Pang Kim Swan used the forged licences to repeatedly enter the casinos at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

The prosecution said that due to his gambling problem, Pang had earlier obtained a self-exclusion order, barring him from entering the country’s casinos.

He was arrested in December 2017 after a security officer caught him at MBS using one of the forged documents.

Instead of keeping himself out of trouble, he stole his father’s identity card in 2018 and used it to enter the RWS casino, where he was again caught and arrested.

Pang, 56, was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail on Nov 23 after he pleaded guilty to 17 charges including forgery and multiple ones under the Casino Control Act.

Fifty-three other charges were considered during sentencing.

He was working as a private hire driver in April 2017 when he drove a 53-year-old man to Tuas.

About 10 minutes after he alighted, the man realised that his wallet was missing and contacted the transportation service provider’s customer service desk to get it back.

When contacted, Pang said that he had not found the wallet even though he had it. He then took the man’s driving licence and $15 cash before discarding the wallet.

Pang was at home in September 2017 when he forged the victim’s driving licence. It later showed Pang’s picture, name, date of birth and date of issue.

However, the victim’s identity card number was still reflected on the forged document

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair said that Pang then used it to repeatedly enter the RWS casino in September and October 2017.

He stopped using the victim’s driving licence after he presented it to a bank officer, who had asked for a photo identification card to process a cheque on Oct 12, 2017.

DPP Nair said: “(She) keyed in the NRIC number and discovered that (it) appeared to belong to a Malay male rather than a Chinese male.

“As the witness felt that something was amiss, she told the accused to wait while she informed (a bank manager, who) called the police while the accused was waiting.”

Due to the delay, Pang suspected that the bank might have uncovered his fraudulent use of the forged driving licence and left the bank without the licence.

On Nov 28, 2017, he went to a friend’s workplace in Ubi Crescent and spotted a wallet belonging to the friend’s colleague.

Pang took the 34-year-old man’s driving licence out of the wallet and left the premises. Pang also forged the second victim’s licence and used it to unlawfully enter the MBS casino later that day.

He was caught on Dec 14, 2017, after he misplaced his mobile phone inside the casino, and alerted the security staff.

DPP Nair told the court: “The accused provided his full name and actual NRIC number verbally for record purposes. The accused left the security desk and exited the casino. A scan was done, and it was discovered that the accused was on an exclusion order.”

Pang was detained after he re-entered the casino at around 3.20pm.

A security officer checked the second victim’s forged driving licence and discovered that the identity card number on the back did not belong to Pang. The police were called and officers arrested him soon after.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but Pang was at his father’s home on March 13, 2018, when he stole the older man’s identity card before using it to enter the RWS casino later that day.

He tried to pull the same stunt again the next day but was detained and arrested.

Pang’s bail was set at $10,000 on Nov 23, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts in December to begin serving his sentence.