Ex-hotel chef jailed for stealing 84 cans of abalone

A FORMER hotel chef stole 84 cans of abalone worth $4,488 and sold the prized seafood in Bugis, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

He was jailed six weeks for the thefts.

Ng Jin Sern, 35, was employed by Concorde Hotel in Orchard Road when he ordered 24 cans of abalone worth $1,248 online on June 7 last year.

When the abalone was delivered the next day, he collected the items personally and placed them under his workstation in the hotel kitchen.

He would then take the cans of abalone home by placing them in his bag and walking out of the hotel. He later sold them to a shop in Bugis for $552.

He made off with 84 cans of abalone worth $4,488 using this modus operandi.

On May 8, he attempted to steal 24 cans of abalone worth $1,368, but did not succeed.

His acts of theft were discovered by the hotel's executive chef on June 28 and reported to the police.

He did not pay his employer back for the stolen abalone.

Ng pleaded guilty to two charges and had three other similar charges as well as an attempted theft taken into consideration during his sentencing.

He was fined $2,500 in 2012 for attempted theft.

Ng, who is now unemployed, could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each charge of "theft as a servant".

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