Police officers from each department will work together to crack down on unauthorized money lenders and businesses that engage in harassing behavior!
Posted by: Edwin Lim
Hello, are you the police?
On the night of May 28, 2019, police received a call from a caller who said that an unauthorized moneylender had locked his bicycle at the gate of his home, preventing him from leaving his home.
When police arrived at the scene, they found a note taped to the bike's lock. that “This is just a warning. Next up is our sister store Fire and Lock! Please contact us within a day…”
work together to connect the dots
This was not an isolated incident. Around the time the first report was received, officials from the Criminal Investigation Department's Unlicensed Money Lending Strike Force (UMSF) learned that incidents of UML harassment were being reported across the island.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the incidents were similar. The perpetrator leaves the bicycle key and a threatening note at the gate of the victim's house. The police analyzed the bicycle keys and notes, and suspected that the crime was carried out by a lone perpetrator.
Around this time, police also received numerous reports of motorcycle ignition keyholes being destroyed with an unknown substance, making it impossible for riders to insert the keys. A similar threatening letter was also found on the motorcycle.
Police officers decided to use their network of crime-fighting units to find the culprits and information about the incident was quickly shared with the Land Department. The breakthrough came after officers from the Toa Payoh District Police Center's anti-crime unit announced that a male food delivery worker was spotted on police cameras acting suspiciously around the time the incident was reported. Ta.
serious exposure
Armed with this information, UMSF officials approached the food delivery company. The team was able to positively identify the suspect, 35-year-old Clifford Lim Mao Tian.
UMSF officers planned a joint operation with anti-crime squad officers to arrest Lim. When he was spotted returning home on May 31, 2019, police immediately arrived and took him into custody. Various harassment tools were found in his possession.
Mr Lim admitted that he was involved in the island-wide harassment. The suspect told officers that he first turned to an unlicensed money lender in 2018 because he needed cash for daily living expenses. Unable to pay his debts, Lim looked for other unlicensed moneylenders. At the time of his arrest, Lim had borrowed approximately $30,000 from more than 10 unlicensed money lenders.
In May 2019, Lim was forced by an unlicensed moneylender to harass another debtor. He received a reward for each act he committed. In addition to locking the gate, Lim destroyed the motorcycle by blocking the ignition keyhole with superglue. Investigations revealed that some of the motorcycle owners had not even obtained loans from unlicensed money lenders.
pay the price
Lim was charged with nearly 20 harassment charges between May 25, 2019 and May 28, 2019. He was also charged with providing two bank accounts to unauthorized money lenders for the purpose of conducting illegal activities. On February 20, 2020, Mr. Lim was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 26 months in prison, nine strokes of the cane, and a $30,000 fine.
UMSF personnel and crime-fighting units from various land departments worked closely together to conduct an investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice within four days of the initial report of the crime.