Man looked familiar

Mr Wei had no clue at that point who owned the look alike car.

Then he spotted the other car owner walking towards the car park.

Said Mr Wei: "I recognised him immediately. He's a valet parking attendant working in the vicinity of Boat Quay. I then alerted the policeman beside me."

Mr Wei said he has been going to the Boat Quay area once or twice every week, and usually uses the valet parking service.

The cops moved in and the other driver didn't put up a struggle.

Shin Min reported that the driver lives in Yishun. He was about to go to work when he was arrested.

The driver of the look alike car being questioned by police.

It was reported that the driver may be facing problems paying his car loan.

He allegedly used the fake licence plate so that his car would not be spotted and subsequently towed away by the finance company.

The car with the fake plates - reportedly with a 2,000cc engine - is more expensive than Mr Wei's, which uses a 1,500cc engine.

Mr Wei's car, which he bought about 18 months ago, is valued at about $65,000, according to the current market rate.

The car with the alleged fake licence plate reportedly uses another type of engine, and costs around $140,000.

The police told The New Paper said it had handed the matter over to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for further investigations.

This is not the first time someone has been arrested using a fake licence plate.

Last year, Ng Boon Leng, 29, forged his father's licence plate to drive around in a "borrowed" car.

When he did not return the car, the original owner of the Honda Civic reported the incident to the police.

Ng was caught by police in July and jailed for 3 1/2 years in September for theft, among other offences.

ganlk@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.