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Parent So Angry That Her Kid Can Buy a Knife in a Mall, She Went on a Mission

2017-09-21 , 6:34 pm

What would you do if your kid came back with a weapon, and claimed that he just bought a weapon home?

Well, most would reach for the cane immediately. But not this mother.

A lengthy post by Facebook user Farrah Diba went viral, garnering almost 3K shares, expressing her shock on how her 12-year old son came back home with a karambit.

For the less initiated (including me), it is a sharp knife of sorts, resembling a very long claw.

Here’s how it looks like.

Before anything, let’s get into details on what the mother has to say.

If you can’t read it, here’s what she has written:

My barely 12 year old son came back from school with this shockingly sharp and lethal weapon called a Karambit. He said he bought it at Hako @ Tampines 1 at only $15.

I am appalled at how easy it is for a child in primary school to purchase this weapon without checking the age of the child.

After calling the Hako shop, the retailer there answered confidently that the weapon is allowed by the Singapore Police Force to be sold to any aged individual.

The curved blade was about 9.5cm long and it was so sharp, I could slice a thick piece of cardboard effortlessly.

I am going to pursue this matter until every single Hako locker with a weapon is raided and banned from being sold.

Please spread the word. This is too much and I cannot imagine how many of these knives have already been bought by kids in our neighborhood.

To give a little context, Hako is a consignment shop that rents out lockets to anyone who wants to sell licensed and legal products. Many of which (or almost all of which) are harmless stuff like phone casings, power banks or even emoji pillows.

So basically, this kid happily walked in and snagged himself this dangerous (and flashy) knife that could easily slice a thick piece of cardboard effortlessly. The post ensued polarizing opinions.

Some agree to the outraged mum

Then there are others questioning her parenting style…

That might be just too personal.

And according to her, she called the shop and one of the staff said that the weapon is allowed by the Singapore Police Force to be sold to anyone.

The Straits Times reported that Hako has removed the items completely (the merchant imported the knives for cos-players) and the kid got his allowance docked.

According to The New Paper, after the post went viral, plainclothes police officers visited the shop today (21 September 2017) as well. Apparently, over 30 of such knives have been sold.

Come to think of it, the chances of one parent complaining only after 30 knives were sold seem slim…but in Singapore, impossible is nothing.

The management of Hako, Toy Outpost, has since issued a statement on Facebook and pinned the statement at the top of their page.

Here’s what they’re written if you can’t read it:

Toy Outpost and Hako shops have been known for selling interesting products. In our stores, you will be able to find popular trending items and all sorts of products that you might not normally find in other stores. We rent lockers to individuals to sell their products and act as middleman handling the retail sales of these merchants.

We are careful not to allow merchants to sell items that are banned or infringe any law in Singapore.

In the 9 years of our operation, we have been assisting merchants in selling camping equipment, survival kits, multi purpose knives that cater to the needs of the everyday man. However, it has been brought to our attention by members of the public that we have infringed the law by selling knives illegally. However, according to the Singapore Police Force, such items are not banned for sale hence we allow the merchant to sell the subject ‘knife’ which is a short knife usually used for trekking, hiking and any other survival activities.

In fact, due diligence was made by the merchant by writing to the Singapore Police Force asking if it is legal to import the ‘knife’. The reply he has received was “We do not prohibit the importation of such knives. However it is the responsibility of individual who is in possession of this knife to ensure it is for lawful purpose”. Hence with this, he went on to import the items for the purpose of selling these to cosplayers as they are popular among the community.

Following the call of a concerned parent who claimed her 12 year old son bought the item (which is $30 and not $15 as what she has stated on her Facebook post), We took action and requested the merchant to put up a note stating items should not be sold to minors aged 14 and below.

Hours after the call towards the end of the day, we decided to take a conservative move in asking the merchant to cease the sale of the ‘knife’ (in our stores at Bedok Mall and Tampines 1) after much deliberation among the management. Sale of other sharp items like penknives, scissors and everyday use products will still continue.

We would strongly urge members of public to exercise caution and discretion, and instill awareness of risks when comes to purchasing of items with such ubiquitous presence.

* The name of the subject ‘knife’ is omitted deliberately to prevent the public, especially the more vulnerable ones, from searching for it out of curiosity or other reasons. We would also like to urge Facebook users not to share the post of a mother whose kid bought one of these items from our store as it will only make other kids curious about this product.

Thank you for reading this announcement.
From the Management of Toy Outpost and Hako shops

In other words, the management has decided to remove the knife as a “conservative move”.

Seems like for Farrag Diba, it’s a mission accomplished.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

Parent So Angry That Her Kid Can Buy a Knife in a Mall, She Went on a Mission

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