An elderly man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in two cases of shop theft in March at Changi Airport.

The Australian national, 82, was apprehended on July 24 as he returned to transit for another flight in Singapore, according to a news release by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) yesterday (Aug 1).

A Shilla Cosmetics & Perfumes outlet in the transit area of Terminal 1 reported a case of shop theft to the SPF on March 18 at around 9.33am after a bottle of perfume, priced at $149, had been discovered missing.

Officers from the Airport Police Division established the identity of the man by looking through CCTV footage and spotting him allegedly leaving the store with the item without paying. By then, he had already departed from Singapore.

Further investigations led the SPF to discover that the same man had allegedly stolen another bottle of perfume from the store previously on March 13.

Both items have not been recovered.

The man will be charged on Aug 4 under Section 380 of the Penal Code 1871 with two counts of theft in dwelling, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail with a fine.

Last month, two women were arrested in Changi Airport within an hour after the Furla store in Terminal 3 reported a purse to be stolen.

The two Indian nationals, aged 29 and 30, were identified through CCTV and arrested before they could leave Singapore.

Upon further investigation, the SPF also discovered a new haversack and a new bottle of perfume in the luggage of the second woman, later found to have been stolen from a different store.

The three stolen items had a total value of $635, and the women were charged for the alleged offences.

In February 2024, a woman who had allegedly stolen two wallets from a shop at Changi Airport in 2018 was arrested nearly six years later, when she returned to Singapore.

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drimac@asiaone.com