Lorry driver charged with helping fugitive flee Singapore after he allegedly failed to deliver luxury goods
Mohamed Alias was charged with helping the man to flee Singapore, after customers made police reports that Tradenation and Tradeluxury failed to deliver goods to them.
File photo of Tuas Checkpoint. (Photo: Elizabeth Khor)
SINGAPORE: A lorry driver has been charged with helping a man to flee Singapore after he allegedly failed to deliver luxury goods to customers.
Mohamed Alias was on Friday (Jul 22) charged with helping a Singaporean man leave the country by allowing him to hide in the container compartment of a Malaysia-registered lorry with licence plate number JUH 7245.
Last Friday, the 40-year-old was also charged with helping a Thai woman to leave Singapore in the same way.
The Malaysian national allegedly drove the lorry hiding the couple on Jul 4 at about 7.25pm at Tuas Checkpoint's departure cargo section.
The penalty for this offence is jail from six months to two years, and a fine of up to S$6,000.
Arrest warrants and Interpol red notices have been issued against the fugitive couple, 26-year-old Singaporean Pi Jiapeng and 27-year-old Thai national Pansuk Siriwipa.
This comes after at least 180 police reports involving two companies, Tradenation and Tradeluxury, were made from June.
Complainants said they made advance payments for luxury watches or bags, but the companies did not deliver the products.
While some media reports said the total value of the undelivered goods is S$32 million, CNA understands that the victims who made police reports have not received goods worth at least S$20 million as of Sunday.
Police previously said that Pi was arrested on Jun 27 for suspected involvement in cheating offences. His passport was impounded and he was released on bail on Jun 28, pending the completion of investigations.
Pansuk Siriwipia, his wife, was also assisting the police with investigations and surrendered her passport to officers on Jun 30. Both subsequently became uncontactable.
The police have appealed to the public for information on the missing couple.
According to Interpol, Pi was born in Fujian, China, while Pansuk is from Roi Et, a province in central north-eastern Thailand. The agency added that Pansuk has a height of 1.64m.
