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[top photo - HURT: Mrs Chua Huey showing the abrasions and bruises on her wrists and knees.]
By Crystal Chan
A SINGAPORE woman was dragged for about 10m on the road when her handbag was snatched by a motorcycle-riding robber in Johor Baru.
In her shock and confusion, Mrs Chua Huey, 39, a secretary, held on to her handbag, which contained cash and her passport, and was dragged.
Her husband, Mr SK Chua, 40, a sales executive, chased the robber and shouted at him to stop, but to no avail.
By the time Mrs Chua released her handbag, she was bleeding from abrasions to her arms and legs.
Recounting her ordeal to The New Paper at the family's Bukit Timah terrace house, she said: 'It happened so suddenly that I didn't realise it was a snatch theft. I thought someone had just tugged at me by mistake, so I held on to my bag.
'It was only a few seconds later that I realised the motorcyclist wanted to steal my bag and that the bike was dragging me along the road.'
The family had gone to Teck Sing restaurant in Taman Sentosa in Johor Baru on 7Mar.
At 9pm, after dinner, the family went to The Store, a mall opposite the restaurant, to buy groceries.
Loading car
Mr Chua was putting three plastic bags of groceries into the boot of his multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) at 9.55pm when the incident happened.
Recalled Mrs Chua: 'The motorcycle was moving so fast that I didn't notice the licence plate number. The robber was also wearing a helmet so I couldn't see his face, except that he had a brown complexion.'
Her handbag contained her passport, ez-link card, handphone, $400, RM500 ($210) and four credit cards.
The couple's 7-year-old son was so upset at seeing his mother being dragged along the road that he began crying.
'He's seen such scenes on television, but I guess seeing it in real life frightened him,' said Mr Chua.
The Chuas made a police report at the Taman Pelangi police station, and there they met another Singaporean couple, who had also fallen victim to a snatch thief.
Mrs Chua said: 'The wife also had her bag taken, but she didn't suffer any injuries as the strap snapped when the thief rode off.'
The Chuas gave the couple a ride back to Singapore in their MPV.
Mr Chua thinks his wife was targeted because the robber saw their Singapore-registered MPV.
He said: 'The officer taking our statement said Singaporeans are the first choice for thieves, because we're likely to have more money.'
Mrs Chua immediately cancelled her SIM card and credit cards.
The Chuas were allowed to enter Singapore after they showed Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers the Malaysian police report stating that Mrs Chua's passport was stolen.
ICA officers also called an ambulance to take her to National University Hospital, where she received outpatient treatment.
The medical bill came to about $100 and she hopes to be reimbursed through her personal accident insurance.
She collected her new passport two Saturdays ago.
The ICA waived the replacement fee of $50 that applies to lost or damaged passports after its officers were shown the police report.
The Chuas are no longer keen to travel to Malaysia.
'We used to drive to Genting Highlands at least twice a year. Just last week, my friend asked if I wanted to go to Penang, but I declined,' Mr Chua said.
'We need time to forget this incident and we don't know if something will happen to us again the next time we go to Malaysia.'
A Johor police spokesman said that since the start of the year, crime in the state had dropped by 1,052 cases, or 17 per cent, from the 6,106 cases reported in the same period last year.
She said that to deter snatch thieves, the police would use emergency law to detain suspects up to 60 days without trial.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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