Thieves use "sleight of hand technique" to steal jewellery

A high-valued piece of jewellery is believed to have been stolen through the sleight of hand technique, commonly used by magicians to handle coins and cards. The police said on Monday that they have received a report on such a case, but did not reveal the value of the jewellery.

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Here is the full statement from the Singapore Police Force: 

Police have received a report on the theft of a high-valued piece of jewellery through the sleight of hand technique.

In the said case, the suspects visited a jewellery booth in a shopping centre and indicated their interest to purchase the piece of jewellery. Claiming that they needed time to withdraw money for their purchase, they paid a deposit and requested that the box containing the jewellery be sealed.

The piece of jewellery was shown to the suspects before it was placed into the box and they assisted to seal the box. However, the suspects did not return to collect the piece of jewellery after a few days, and it was subsequently discovered that the piece of jewellery was missing from the sealed jewellery box.

The Police would like to advise all jewellery sales staff on the following crime prevention measures:

a. Ensure that every piece of jewellery is accounted for after attending to the customers;

b. Stay vigilant especially when dealing with customers who request for many jewellery pieces to be taken out of their display cases. Each piece of jewellery should be accounted for and verified for authenticity, before allowing the customer to leave the premises. Alternatively, two sales staff can attend to the customer, with one of them taking the selected jewellery pieces and the other, keeping a watch on the customer;

c. Be cautious of anyone who poses frivolous questions or other distraction techniques; and

d. CCTVs should be strategically positioned to cover the display counters and allow the images of customers to be captured.

Members of public who encounter such cases may lodge a Police report via the Electronic Police Centre (ePC) at https://www.spf.gov.sg/epc/ or at any Neighbourhood Police Centre/Post, or dial '999' for urgent Police assistance.