Jail for man who stole tins of milk powder worth over $400 to sell online

Joshua Chen Yixian stole milk powder from a FairPrice outlet, as well as toys from a Toys 'R' Us outlet. PHOTO: ILLUSTRATION: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - A technician went to a FairPrice supermarket in Punggol and stole eight tins of milk powder worth more than $400 in total as he wanted to sell them on online marketplace Carousell.

Joshua Chen Yixian also went to a Toys ‘R’ Us outlet and stole toys worth nearly $214.

Chen, 34, who pleaded guilty to two theft charges, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Thursday.

The court heard Chen had gone to the toy store at Waterway Point shopping mall in Punggol Central at around 8pm on June 22, 2022 and stole items including a Lego set.

He then went to a FairPrice outlet in the mall and took from a display shelf eight 900g tins of Enfagrow Pro A+ Stage 3 milk powder. Chen stood behind a pillar, slipped the tins into a cooler bag and left the premises.

A security officer who saw him committing the offence stopped him outside the supermarket. The officer alerted the police at around 9.20pm that day.

The supermarket chain has since started locking up infant milk formula to deter shoplifting. It later said that this trial scheme was started at its Bukit Batok MRT outlet because infant formula was an item that was typically stolen.

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