By Kimberly Spykerman , Leow Si Wan and Ben Nadarajan

IN THE space of a week last month, a thief tried four times to pick his way into an engineering firm's office in the Tiong Bahru Industrial Estate.

The culprit got lucky once, making off with several thousand dollars' worth of laptops, some petty cash and a soft drink or two from the refrigerator.

On other nights, he was spotted on closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) put up by the company, and he also tried to break in on a weekend without realising there were workers inside.

He was caught by police later that night when he returned for another try.

Other officers and several food stalls in the industrial estate along Lower Delta Road have also been targeted by opportunistic thieves who prey on the flimsy windows and inch-thick padlocks.

Islandwide, break-ins at industrial estates appear to be on the rise as well.

Cases of housebreaking, including those at such industrial estates, went up by 17 per cent in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year. There were about 90 break-ins each month.

Two weekends ago, five commercial units at the JTC Corporation flatted factory at Blocks 1020 and 1024 of Tai Seng Avenue were broken into in the early hours of Aug 1. A total of $1,800 cash and cigarettes were stolen.

Police said the culprits, who were still at large, forced open the rear doors or the sliding windows of the units.

Printing company owner Samuel Heng, who lost $1,700, said: 'The thieves came in through the back door and rummaged through the entire office. They even damaged our safe. Our CCTVs captured images of two masked men.'

A Straits Times check with tenants at 13 estates nationwide found that many were repeat victims.

Many such estates are tucked away in secluded areas and are poorly lit at night. Cursory fences line the premises, hardly a deterrent to those with a criminal mind.

Their first line of defence - doors and windows - are often old and brittle. Some do not even come with grilles.

While most have basic alarm systems installed, less than half further buttressed their offices from break-ins with CCTVs.

But still, many of these offices house small companies which lack the finances to pay for high-tech equipment.

An employee at a company in Tai Seng Industrial Estate in Ubi said: 'Who is going to pay for us to install the equipment? We are a small business; we don't make a lot of money.'

Whose responsibility?

MANY tenants The Straits Times spoke to felt the buck stops with their landlords.

Mr Gregory Tan from the engineering company in Tiong Bahru that was hit last month said that when Mapletree Investments took over from JTC last year, it raised rents by about 12 per cent. 'But paying more rent did not come with added security at all,' he said.

Some tenants at the industrial estates in Tanglin Halt and Tai Seng also said they had asked their landlords to hire security guards, but were rejected because it was 'not within their policy' to do so.

A Tai Seng tenant said: 'We are a fenced compound, but what is the point of having fencing when we do not have even one guard?'

Landlords, though, feel otherwise.

A Mapletree spokesman said it has sought the cooperation of the authorities and approached various Neighbourhood Police Centres to conduct more frequent patrols at or near their industrial properties. Mapletree owns and manages distriparks at Tanjong Pagar and Pasir Panjang, and 62 other industrial buildings.

A JTC spokesman said they work closely with the police and tenants where the security of public places in JTC's industrial estates are concerned.

Industry sources said these landlords usually leave security issues to the police.

A police spokesman said they have increased patrols at industrial estates, especially at night and over the weekends.

In Tai Seng's case, police are working with the property management of Tai Seng JTC and the Industrial Safety & Security Watch Group to safeguard the premises and enhance security measures.

Banners and pamphlets have also been distributed to the tenants to raise their crime prevention awareness.

Previously, the police identified certain estates, such as those at Depot Lane and Defu Lane, that were vulnerable to break-ins, and took steps to address the situation by increasing patrols and issuing letters alerting owners to the spate of crimes.

Security guards deployed

AT LEAST one landlord, though, has hired security guards for tenants of its 300 units at the Paya Ubi Industrial Park. At night, four guards conduct regular patrols around the area.

The estate's developer said: 'We also have security meetings every week to look out for security loopholes. During our patrols, we would alert tenants or owners of units of these possible loopholes.'

These additional security measures are paid out of tenants' maintenance fees.

At the Amtech building in the Sin Ming industrial area, the building's landlord also hires guards for its tenants.

Tenants typically pay between $200 and $400 more a month in maintenance fees if security services are provided.

An employee of a car parts dealer in Amtech said: 'The compound is small, and we are right next to the guardhouse. Who would dare to break in? It is very safe here.'

Doing things their own way

HOWEVER, most tenants felt that the burden of paying for security should not fall on them, and many companies have resorted to their own forms of 'security'.

Mr Tan uses cable wires to secure the window locks in his office in the Tiong Bahru Industrial Estate. Bamboo poles are placed in the tracks of sliding windows to ensure they cannot open.

In Bukit Batok Industrial Park, the owners of a raw materials company reinforced the windows with three layers of glass, metal and wooden rods. They had also reinforced other windows with wire mesh made out of scrap metal.

'We get more nervous when prices of steel and aluminium are high. That is when the thieves strike,' an owner said.

An assistant at the coffee shop in Tanglin Halt Industrial Estate, which used to be hit about twice a week, said they used to release snakes when they closed for the night, but stopped doing that a few months ago when thieves wised up.

Other coffee shops use less drastic measures - valuables are no longer left on-site, and employees take home cigarette packs, trays of drink cans and the day's takings; in addition, lights are left on through the night.

Companies that are at higher risk of being targeted - such as jewellery firms - also play it coy by not displaying signboards outside their units.

An employee at one such office in the Tiong Bahru Industrial Estate said: 'Any thief who knows it is a jewellery place will think there is lots to steal inside. If they don't know, they won't touch us.'

Some companies even get their workers to sleep over in the premises.

Tired of his copper pieces going missing, Mr Sunny Chan left a worker overnight. He found out that thieves were coming in through a window, and has since fixed metal sheets against the window and also installed motion detectors.

Other tenants deploy guard dogs.

An engineering factory in Woodlands East Industrial park groomed three strays into guard dogs. An employee said the dogs are unleashed at night and would 'bark at and bite strangers'.

Similarly, Speedserve Pest/Protect Products at Ubi Avenue 1 has kept a big, black guard dog for the past seven years.

'The dog is fierce, and bites and barks at strangers. We keep it in the office so it can deter thieves,' said the shop's clerk, Ms Choling Angel.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.