Last Updated on 2023-05-05 , 4:18 pm
CCTV footage from the Five Star Kampung Chicken Rice Restaurant in River Valley has caught a woman taking food worth over $50 from their restaurant.
The order did not belong to her.
Our suspicions of the duck thief being dressed a little too fittingly in a previous case regarding TungLok’s roast duck theft could be more accurate than intended, as the woman caught at Five Star looks suspiciously similar.
Five Star Kampung Chicken Rice Restaurant posted on Facebook that its staff was alerted to the incident by a GrabFood delivery rider who reported that his order was missing.
Upon review of the CCTV footage on 22 April 2023, the restaurant’s general manager, Ms Yeo, discovered that the woman, who appeared to have impersonated a GrabFood rider, had taken the food.
Woman Suspected to Have Stolen Duck and Chicken Orders On the Same Day
According to Five Star’s Facebook post, Ms Yeo strongly believes that the culprit who stole from Duckland on the same day is the same person who stole from their restaurant.
It appears that the woman has a preference for premium poultry as both Duckland and Five Star are famous for their high-quality poultry, with Five Star renowned for their kampung chicken dishes due to their freshness and excellence.
Ms Yeo accused the woman of being a “serial thief”, stealing premium poultry from multiple restaurants, and expressed her disappointment in her actions.
It’s difficult not to compare the two incidents as the woman’s attire closely resembled that of the duck thief caught at TungLok’s Duckland restaurant in Paya Lebar Quarter Mall (PLQ).
Both suspects were dressed entirely in black, wore black masks, and had similar hairstyles.
The incident at Five Star occurred at approximately 3:10 pm, while the Duckland theft occurred at around 6 pm on the same day.
The woman made off with $50 worth of chicken from Five Star and an $86 order of roasted duck from Duckland, resulting in both restaurants suffering a combined loss of $136 on the same day.
CCTV footage from both restaurants revealed that the woman was carrying what seemed to be the same white plastic bag displaying the Five Star logo.
Therefore, Ms Yeo suspects that the woman went on a stealing spree, with her starting from River Valley and then heading to Paya Lebar.
Food Costs Already High for F&B Businesses
Ms Yeo not only accused the woman of being a repeat food thief but also expressed her dismay towards such actions being carried out against food businesses.
She felt disheartened over the stolen order and shared that food theft cases were not new to her.
Lamenting the woman’s actions, Ms Yeo stated that food and beverage (F&B) businesses like hers are already struggling with high expenses, and cases like these were far from ideal.
Core inflation has risen to 2.4% yearly since 2020, the highest since September 2012, largely due to increased prices for food, electricity, and gas.
The situation worsened due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, causing global food prices to rise. The conflict has increased oil prices and exacerbated the supply chain disruption triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, food prices in Asia rose to 5.9% annually in May 2022, up from 2.7% in December 2022.
Price Hike in Poultry
Inflation continues to surge, expanding beyond cereals and edible oils to other categories like meat, processed food, and restaurant meal prices in Singapore.
In June 2022, a 10% to 30% increase in chicken prices was observed when Malaysia ceased exporting chickens, forcing poultry sellers to shut down their stalls temporarily.
The continuous price spikes for essential ingredients have made managing expenses challenging for food businesses.
Consequently, many restaurants have been forced to raise menu prices to correspond with increased costs of gas, labour, food, supplies, and other critical aspects of operating a food service establishment.
Furthermore, inflation has caused consumers to reprioritise their income towards essentials, decreasing their tendency to eat out or dine in restaurants.
The recent temporary suspension of freshly slaughtered pork supply from Indonesia on 23 April 2023 may also result in a higher demand for alternative poultry sources like chicken.
This may lead to an increase in the cost of these alternative poultry sources.
Thus, while the items stolen by the woman may be considered lower-value compared to more severe theft cases, F&B businesses may still suffer from such repeated acts.
Reported Woman to the Police
Five Star, unlike TungLok Group, did not settle for exposing CCTV footage of the woman on social media as “punishment.”
Instead, they lodged a police report against her in hopes of identifying her and preventing future similar crimes.
They also deemed the act more severe due to her repeated act of committing the two thefts on the same day.
It is essential to note that according to section 379 of the Penal Code, theft offenders can face a fine, imprisonment for up to three years or both.
As the woman committed the act twice, she may no longer be eligible for a community-based sentence, usually offered for less serious offences such as stealing low-value items.
Theft offences are considered more serious when they are repeated. Thus, she may have to serve a day reporting order, requiring her to report regularly to a day reporting officer for three to 12 months.
If her crimes are deemed more severe, she may have to serve a short detention order and be incarcerated for up to 14 days.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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