Singapore Airlines’ aircraft on instrument flight, ILS, gearing up for landing
The content of the stolen bag exceeded a S$100,000 (£57,625) in value. The items were, among others, cash and a Huawei laptop worth about S$2,100, 56 cigars worth more than S$5,400, a Chopard watch worth more than S$35,000, and an Audemars Piguet watch worth more than S$51,000.
A male passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight from Dubai to Changi International Airport, Singapore, has been sentenced to twenty (20) months in prison for stealing a fellow passenger’s luggage while airborne.
The passenger, a 26-year-old Chinese national named Liu Ming, stole items from the bag of a fellow traveller, an Azerbaijani man travelling with his wife in the business class cabin, while onboard.
Liu was reportedly seated five rows in front of an Azerbaijani business class passenger, 52, and one row in front of the victim’s wife.
As the flight progressed, the evening set in. The cabin crew later started serving dinner. On completion of serving the food to passengers, and the cabin lights dimmed, Liu made a nimble and spirited dash, like the speed of light, to where his 52-year-old victim was already catching a nap.
Although the victim was asleep, his wife, in five rows away, suddenly jolted from her nap. Lo and behold, she saw a strange person, Liu, by her husband’s seat, taking the victim’s luggage from the overhead compartment, carrying it back to his seat.
By the time the wife came to terms with what she saw, whether it was not an apparition nor a dream but real-live drama being played out, in systematic pilfering, Liu had returned to his assigned seat. Hence, the wife of the Azerbaijan passenger promptly rose from her seat and called the attention of one of the cabin crew to the grotesque Nollywood she alone watched live at 35,000 feet above the sea level, right from her seat.
The script writer, director, producer, and cast of the monodrama on pilfering when airborne was a Chinese named Liu Ming, 26 years of age
The accused, Liu, was accosted immediately by the crew. Two different bags were found on him.
On closer scrutiny, the cabin crew found that Liu’s bag was entirely different from the victim’s bag. It was reported there were sharp differences in appearance, quality and materials.
However, when the flight safely landed at Changi airport, Liu was handed over to the airport police who initiated and completed the prosecution of the thieving passenger.
According to the prosecutor, Cheah Wenjie, a Deputy Director of Prosecution at the Changi International Airport Police Station, after reading the singular charge of stealing to the court, he demanded a 20-month jail term for the accused.
Police said Liu was uncooperative during investigations and continued to deny the theft and maintain that it was a mistake.
Also, Liu pleaded that he was battling with a medical challenge known as somnambulism. The condition of being active while sleeping, but with no mental comprehension of actions taken in that condition.
Liu had earlier told the cabin crew that he had taken the luggage by mistake after confusing it with his own bag. The cabin crew informed the group staff at Changi Airport, and Liu was arrested upon a safe arrival at the airport.
The contents of the victim’s bag included items with a value exceeding S$100,000 (£57,625). The items were, among others, cash, a Huawei laptop worth about S$2,100, 56 cigars worth more than S$5,400, a Chopard watch worth more than S$35,000, and an Audemars Piguet watch worth more than S$51,000.
No items were found missing because the victim’s wife confronted Liu soon after he took the luggage from the compartment, the court heard.
After all the overwhelming evidence adduced in this matter, Liu, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft.
The court was told that Liu boarded the flight specifically with the aim of stealing high-value items from fellow business class passengers.
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