20 Loansharks Arrested
Saturday, 3rd April 2010
The Singapore Police Force launched a massive island-wide operation and 20 people were arrested today for their involvement in loansharking (aka Ah Long) activities. The 20 people, 15 men and 5 women were caught in the day long operation involving officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division. They raided premises in Ho Ching Road, Bangkit Road, Bedok Reservoir, Jurong West, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun and Sengkang.
The tools of the loansharking trade including Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, bank statements and bank slips were recovered during the police operation. It is believed that some of them arrested were debtors (who themselves owe money to loansharks) turned loanshark-runners. The amended Moneylenders Act 2008, which came into force on 11 Feb 2010 and it prompted this sting operation. The Act says that if a person uses a bank account or ATM for moneylending, they are presumed to have helped an unlicensed moneylender.
First-time offenders can now be fined not less than $30,000 and not more than $300,000, with a mandatory imprisonment term of up to four years and mandatory caning of up to six strokes.