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Two Indian nationals caught for pawning fake gold chains jailed 6 months each

Singapore's State Courts. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
Singapore’s State Courts. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

Two Indian nationals who pawned fake gold chains here last November were jailed six months each on Friday (18 May).

Monga Arun, 20, and Monga Ajay, 39, pleaded guilty to two charges each of cheating at the State Courts.

State Prosecution Officer S. Krishnan said in court that between 31 October and 6 November last year, the two men who were here on a tourist visa, pawned four fake gold chains for a total of $4,650.

The two men were arrested at the departure hall of Changi Airport Terminal Two on 6 November.

They had visited four pawn shops in Little India on seven different occasions with their travel agent, Jajbir Singh, who is still at large.

It was Jajbir who gave the two men the fake gold chains and suggested that the duo use their own passports at the pawn shops. He assured Arun and Ajay, who knew that the chains were not made of real gold, that he had successfully carried out the scheme before.

The fact that Arun went to the first pawn shop on the day of their arrival and Ajay visited another shop the next day is not “incidental”, said Krishnan. They had “travelled specifically into Singapore to commit offences”, he added.

The prosecutor asked for a jail term of at least six months each. The younger man, Arun, cried quietly on the stands as the proceedings went on.

In mitigation, Defense Counsel Dhanwant Singh said his clients did not visit Singapore with the intention of cheating. The duo wanted visas to Canada and Jajbir had told them visiting Singapore would increase their chances of getting the visa.

It was only on arrival that the two were told to pawn the chains. Jajbir himself was at the airport on the day of their arrests but “managed to leave because there was no government gazette” on him, added the lawyer.

The two men could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined for their cheating offences.