A 38-year-old auxiliary police officer who allegedly robbed a shop in Jurong on April 12 using his official gun after reporting for duty earlier that day was charged in court today.
Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, a Singaporean, had drawn his firearm after checking in at work before he changed out of his uniform and left Aetos premises with his gun without authorisation, the Singapore Police Force said in a media release.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mahadi had allegedly robbed the unit by showing the staff in the unit a written note which said, “This is a robbery, don’t shout. I got gun in my pocket. Put all the money in the bag”. The staff handed over cash amounting to more than SGD 24,000.
He allegedly reported back to Aetos headquarters to change back into his uniform and take the company van to his deployment location.
He was arrested five hours later after the authorities used footage from police cameras and the shop’s CCTV.
“The man involved in the armed robbery abused the firearm entrusted to him to carry out his duties. The police will spare no effort to ensure that such criminals who endanger the public’s safety are dealt with firmly and severely in accordance with the law,” Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police How Kwang Hwee said.
Mahadi was charged with committing armed robbery at OT Credit along Jurong Gateway Road while possessing an M85 Taurus revolver.
Separately, a 34-year-old woman, Nur Shana Mohd Taib, was facing one charge of dishonestly receiving stolen property after Mahadi allegedly deposited part of the stolen cash into her bank account.
Shana is said to have dishonestly retained SGD 10,000 of the stolen money. Mahadi also transferred the stolen cash to a few bank accounts to repay his debts to unlicensed moneylenders.
Both Mahadi and Shana will return to court on April 21.
Cash amounting to some SGD 17,500 has since been recovered. The police have also arrested eight others, aged between 16 and 48, in connection to the case.