Student fined for stealing $1,600 worth of items at Changi Airport transit area

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan pleaded guilty to three counts of theft at Terminal 2 and 3 on June 3. ST PHOTO: JAMIE KOH

SINGAPORE - A Vietnamese student who stole $1,666 worth of items from seven stores at Changi Airport while on transit was fined $1,800 on Wednesday (June 14).

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, 20, who faced seven charges of theft, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft at Terminal 2 and 3 on June 3.

Within an hour, she stole cosmetics worth $184 from Watson outlet, a Longchamp sling bag worth $1,047, both at Terminal 3, and Givenchy perfume worth $159 from The Shilla Cosmetic and Perfume South outlet at Terminal 2. The thefts took place after 6.21am.

The remaining four charges were taken into consideration during her sentencing.

Police prosecutor Assistant Superintendent Kevin Lee Ming Woei said Nguyen, who is studying in Japan, was transiting from Japan to Vietnam via Singapore.

While waiting for her transit flight to Vietnam, Nguyen decided to shop at the airport's Terminal 3.

While browsing at the transit hall, she stole the displayed items from various retail stores.

A staff of Longchamp discovered that one of her displayed sling bags was missing and viewed the closed-circuit television, which established Nguyen to be the culprit. Nguyen was subsequently arrested by the police. All the stolen items were recovered.

Nguyen, who had spent six days in remand, could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined on each charge.

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