Cold theft, hot pursuit
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A routine delivery of ice turned into a police chase lasting 60 minutes and covering 50km after a truck was stolen. Khoo How San reports, with contributions from Teh Joo Lin, Arlina Arshad & Tracy Sua
'JUST one more delivery before lunch,' Mr Wunna Swa, 27, thought to himself as he glanced at his watch yesterday. The time: 11.15am.
The Myanmar national also reminded himself to keep the engine running so that the ice in the back of his truck would not melt.
Then, off he went to deliver some 18kg of ice to a florist in Ang Mo Kio Central.
It took Mr Swa only two minutes to do that. His truck was still within sight but when he returned, he saw a man climbing into the driver's seat - it was a scene he will long remember.
With the engine already running, the 'ice-jacker' made a quick getaway.
Mr Swa tried running after the Mitsubishi Canter refrigerated truck as it wended its way out of the open carpark. Exhausted, he took out his mobile phone and called his manager.
The chase begins
'I WAS scared to lose my job. I chased...but could not catch up,' Mr Swa said.
'So, I called my manager on my cellphone. My manager called my big boss who called me and picked me up at Ang Mo Kio,' he added.
Mr Alex Goh, 55, director of Uni-Tat Ice and Marketing, which owns a fleet of 39 refrigerated trucks, including the one hijacked, was at home when his operations manager, Mr Kelvin Tan, 36, called him on his mobile phone.
'At first, my driver thought a colleague was playing a joke on him,' said Mr Goh. But it soon hit him that it was no joke.
Back at the office, Mr Tan knew what had to be done next.
Half the fleet was equipped with global positioning system (GPS) satellite tracking devices, as a truck had been stolen previously. In another occasion, a driver had used a truck for cigarette smuggling.
Flipping some switches, it did not take Mr Tan long to locate where the runaway truck was. He called Mr Goh again, as well as the police.
Later, as the police gave chase, Mr Tan was to serve as the 'link', relaying messages between the police and Mr Goh, who also joined the pursuit in his Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
Mr Goh described to The Straits Times what followed. He picked up Mr Swa from the Ang Mo Kio Central carpark and called Mr Tan. The truck was now at Yio Chu Kang.
He said: 'The police started tracking the lorry at Hougang Avenue 4. At first there were just one or two police cars.
'I drove in my Toyota Land Cruiser Prado to join the chase, and we caught up at Yio Chu Kang Road.
'When I got there, I saw nine police cars in what looked like a convoy, with the lorry on the right-most lane.
'I drove alongside the lorry, side by side. I was in the middle lane on its left.
'The lorry's windows were wound down and its speed then was about 30kmh.'
The GPS log was to show that during the chase, the speed reached 76kmh at one time.
'I saw the driver, who looked like an Indian,' Mr Goh said.
'I shouted to him two or three times: 'Annah (Tamil for elder brother), surrender, surrender. Stop'.'
But Mr Goh said the man shook his head and briefly waved his hands as if to say 'No, no, no'.
What Mr Goh said next could have come out of a Hollywood movie script.
'I asked Wunna if he could try to jump into the truck and take out the key. Wunna said OK. At that time, I was scared that the man would knock someone down because he was driving so recklessly.
'Two times, once at a traffic light in Yio Chu Kang Road and a second time when the traffic slowed down in Sin Ming, we found an opportunity. But before Wunna could go over to jump into the truck, it sped off.
'I then received a call from Mr Tan. He told me that the police asked me not to go too close to the truck,' he said.
Later, it was found that the chase had gone on for an hour. Distance covered: 50km.
The chase ends
THE chase ended at Sin Ming Drive. The rogue driver seemed unfamiliar with the area. He drove into Vicom Vehicle Inspection Centre and then out.
He then drove into a ComfortDelgro workshop.
Mr Goh was still tailing him, all the way in.
The police posse too.
'As soon as the police cars had got in, I quickly got out of my car and closed the exit gate so he wouldn't be able to drive out,' Mr Goh said.
But time was lost. The lorry was found abandoned and the culprit had disappeared in the vast compound.
The police looked for the man everywhere, even in the toilets.
Then an eagle-eyed workshop employee spotted a man under a car being repaired. He realised that it was not a mechanic as the man was not wearing a uniform.
The employee alerted the police.
After about 10 minutes, the man crawled out and did not put up a struggle.
Mr Swa was glad the man was caught.
He said: 'When we caught him, we found invoices, $5 worth of coins, and a small Buddha statue my mother gave me missing from the dashboard. I was very angry because the statue was very precious to me.
'This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I was very worried, and scared.'
A man has been arrested and police are investigating the case.
The ice in the truck was found intact. -
ha ha ha ... why would anyone want to steal ice ?!!
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: SINGAPORE
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I would thought that for a car chase to happen in Singapore with so many police cars invoived, it would be like a robbery, kidnap or something like that ... wah lau .. all because of ice !!!!! So cold !!!
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so many vehicles to choose yet he chose an ice truck. what a joke!
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The last line of the article was... redundant.
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so fun leh.......
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lol Singapore's first car chase and it's because someone stole some ice hahaha
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Originally posted by ORIGAMIST:The ice in the truck was found intact.
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Christmas mah, he may wants to make his house cold and snowing.Originally posted by ORIGAMIST:ha ha ha ... why would anyone want to steal ice ?!! -
me also want to steal ice
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LOL! I won't wanna buy that game!Originally posted by thehappybunny:GRAND THEFT AUTO: SINGAPORE
You wanna drive one car, must buy one, somemore might still have to base on COE, insurance, down payment and etc.
Skarli still must pay petrol and season parking.
Then knock down someone go jail.
Kill someone, death sentence.
Knock down mata, death sentence.
Speeding, fine
Beat red light (x2), go court, license suspensed.
Cannot swim across Malaysia, or Coast Guard mata come.
Everything fine here and there.
Might not even have cheat code.
Worst, from all those illegal job you've done, still have to pay 20% government tax, go ubin pay $2 (one way trip) and Sentosa for $3 (entrance), and not forgetting 7% GST.
I bet the game comment will be like:
Walao eh! Sibei no freedom siah! Waste my money and computer space! -
Infinite health onOriginally posted by toyota-corolla:LOL! I won't wanna buy that game!
You wanna drive one car, must buy one, somemore might still have to base on COE, insurance, down payment and etc.
Skarli still must pay petrol and season parking.
Then knock down someone go jail.
Kill someone, death sentence.
Knock down mata, death sentence.
Speeding, fine
Beat red light (x2), go court, license suspensed.
Might not even have cheat code.
Worst, from all those illegal job you've done, still have to pay 20% government tax, go ubin pay $2 (one way trip) and Sentosa for $3 (entrance), and not forgetting 7% GST.
I bet the game comment will be like:
Walao eh! Sibei no freedom siah! Waste my money and computer space!
Infinite ammo on
All weapons unlocked on
Never wanted on
Somemore i apply superman mod..can fly everywhere one
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Think the guy wanted to steal the truck not the ice lah...
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The effect of too much GTA.Originally posted by lpx88:Infinite health on
Infinite ammo on
All weapons unlocked on
Never wanted on
Somemore i apply superman mod..can fly everywhere one -
Anybody know wad cars the police used to chase the truck?Don't tell me they use the WRX and BMW to chase a lorry
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It would be interesting to know what car they use... the chase last for an hour and the distant covered was 50km.. so it is like 50km/hrs .. highest speed recorded was 76 km/hrs .. I am sure this would give our police a taste of what car chase is all about .. . .Originally posted by orionlight:Anybody know wad cars the police used to chase the truck?Don't tell me they use the WRX and BMW to chase a lorry -
Originally posted by polarsnake:The last line of the article was... redundant.
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I think in Singapore, it doesn't matter what car it is. Most importantly its the driver's skills. Singapore so many bends and traffic lights, unless on the expressway, even a lamborghini is useless.
And a police chase doesn't mean a chase got to be like 130km/h or something. For all you know its because the "WHAT SEEMED LIKE AN INDIAN MAN" was driving recklessly that causes the cautioning attitude of the police. And to save trouble, might as well just take turn to chase till he give up. Save time. and 50km/h is economic for fuel what! haha -
wow he made a cool getaway
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I thot the police will use their gun to shoot the tire so that the vehicle cannot move and they can arrest the guy.
That is what James bond will do -
Singapore is too small for James Bond ...Originally posted by yimkim:I thot the police will use their gun to shoot the tire so that the vehicle cannot move and they can arrest the guy.
That is what James bond will do -
Shooting the tyre of a moving vehicle (while you are moving too) is going to be extremely difficult...and I'd buy GTA: Singapore too...it probably won't be named that though...since San Andreas is loosely affiliated with L.A. and las vegas GTA Singapore might be GTA: Syonan-To or GTA: Lion City (in keeping with Liberty and Vice City)Originally posted by yimkim:I thot the police will use their gun to shoot the tire so that the vehicle cannot move and they can arrest the guy.
That is what James bond will do -
I know ice kachang is nice, but this...