Cops commended for their service
One officer helped arrest thief when off-duty
He was coming home from a provision shop near his home in Bedok at 2am when he noticed a man behaving suspiciously near a storage container.
The man fled when a police car patrolling the area arrived at a nearby carpark, but Staff Sergeant Mohamad Khairul Aidil Mohd, 29, continued to observe him.
When the man returned to the storage container after the patrol car left, Staff Sgt Khairul, who was off-duty then, approached him and he ran.
The police officer caught him after a short chase.
The man had been stealing copper wires from the container, and after questioning, he said that he planned to sell them.
Staff Sgt Khairul alerted the neighbourhood police centre and officers arrested the man.
The incident happened late last year.
The police later found that the man was a repeat offender.
Staff Sgt Khairul, an officer at the Jurong Division, was given a High Commendation award at the Commissioner of Police's Commendation Ceremony yesterday.
His was one of the 50 individual, 40 team and seven high commendation awards given in recognition of consistent work, meritorious service and outstanding leadership for 2018.
In an interview, the father of two spoke about instincts he had acquired after nine years in the force, which helped him detect the crime.
He said: "Even when you are off-duty, you have to be wary of your surroundings. It is in our nature not to let our guard down."
WINNING TEAM
Among the other winners were Assistant Superintendent Esh Jegadeeshwaran Wadarajan, who is part of the seven-man E-Commerce Fraud Enforcement and Coordination Team, which was formed in November last year to tackle the rising number of e-commerce scams.
The team was given the team commendation award. Within two months of its formation, the team had arrested 26 e-commerce scammers and solved more than 230 such scams.
In an interview before the ceremony, team members spoke about why people fall for scams despite efforts to spread awareness.
ASP Wadarajan said: "Some of them are desperate. Like for concert tickets, once they are sold out, they don't have anywhere else to buy them."
Senior Staff Sergeant Eric Low Hin Kee added: "They are willing to take a risk for the item."
In Singapore, the number of e-commerce scams went up from 1,907 cases in 2017 to 2,125 cases last year. Up to March this year, 678 e-commerce scams were reported.
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