Three Chinese nationals from Guangzhou were caught stealing casino chips by using glue on their hands.
On Mar. 6, 50-year-old Huang Chunsheng, 64-year-old Zheng Jiansheng and 55-year-old Jiang Renjing arrived in Singapore via one-way tickets and holding social visit passes that allowed them to remain in the country for 14 days.
On the sixth day of their stay, all three were arrested and jailed for theft.
The plan
The plan to steal casino chips, in the event that they lost money while gambling, was formed before the group of friends boarded their flight, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Adelle Tai.
Huang, the mastermind, shared his modus operandi with his accomplices.
His method involved applying superglue to the inside of one’s palm and passing it over a casino chip, causing the chip to stick to one’s hand.
The chip could then be hidden and pocketed.
At the Guangzhou airport, Huang passed two bottles of superglue to Zheng.
Huang knew that Zheng had a medical condition that required him to apply eyedrops every day.
Should they be questioned by custom officers, Huang told Zheng, the latter could say that the bottles contained his eyedrops.
In their accommodation at Min Wah Hotel on Mar. 7, Huang demonstrated his “sticking” technique to Zheng and Jiang, who later practiced with bottle caps and casino chips.
Targeted those who placed large bets
Huang, Zheng and Jiang chose Marina Bay Sands to carry out their plan.
While visiting the casino every day from Mar. 6 to Mar. 11, the trio stuck to their “glue hands” plan.
Upon entering the casino, they would split up.
When they ran out of their own chips, they would go to the toilet to apply superglue on their palms before heading back out to gamble, said Tai.
They targeted patrons who had whole stacks of chips, thinking they would be less likely to notice if some were missing.
Caught on the sixth day of thieving
The gig was up when Huang was finally caught red-handed by a patron.
On Mar. 11, Kong Yoong Hua realised one of his casino chips was missing after Huang placed his hand near his stack of chips.
When he grabbed Huang’s hand, Kong found his chip stuck to Huang’s palm.
As Kong was flagging the incident to the dealer, however, Huang quickly retracted his wager and left the casino.
He told his partners-in-crime that he could not return as he had been caught, suggesting they relocate to the casino at Resorts World Sentosa.
In total, they managed to steal S$1,575 worth of chips before getting caught.
The men were arrested there soon after.
As of now, all three have not made any restitution.
Top image via Keenan Constance/Unsplash
