Singapore - The police have arrested seven men believed to be involved in loansharking activities. They are between 16 and 45 years old.
On Monday, while conducting a road block along Clementi Road at about 2.40am, police stopped three men inside a taxi. Officers discovered loanshark paraphernalia on the men.
The police said that the three men are believed to have committed loanshark harassment by spraying paint and scrawling loan shark-related graffiti on the walls of the HDB blocks in Clementi. They are also believed to be involved in similar cases in Tampines, Hougang and Bedok.
Officers also arrested two other men, aged 17, in Boon Lay Drive for their rsuspected involvement in other cases of loanshark harassment in Tampines, Bedok, Toa Payoh and Jurong West. Two other men, aged 16 and 45, were later also arrested for suspected involvement in recruiting for the loanshark syndicates.
If found guilty of loanshark harassment , first-time offenders may be fined between $5,000 and $50,000, with a mandatory jail term of up to five years and mandatory caning of up to six strokes. First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the carrying on of the business of an unlicensed moneylender may be fined between $30,000 and not more than $300,000, be jailed up to four years and shall also be liable for caning.
