Two men jailed for thefts aboard flights

SINGAPORE- Two men from China who stole from passengers on board Silkair flights the same day last month were jailed yesterday.

Hawker Hu Yunzhi, 45, was jailed for a year after he admitted stealing banknotes of various currencies worth $382 in total from Indonesian businessman Sugianto Tanoto Kusuma, 41, during a flight from Medan to Singapore on Nov19.

In the same court, chef Zhang Jun, 40, was sentenced to nine months for stealing a black laptop bag from British IT director Mark Ivan Swann, 59, on a Singapore-bound flight from Phnom Penh.

Both Hu and Zhang are from Henan province but their cases are unrelated.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Nim told the court that cabin crew saw Hu take a Louis Vuitton bag from the overhead baggage compartment above Mr Kusuma's seat.

He placed it on an aisle seat nearby and rummaged through it before putting it back.

Hu, who had been seated a few rows behind the sleeping victim, then moved to a seat a few rows down, where he stayed until landing.

Mr Kusuma discovered that the money was missing when he checked his wallet in his bag.

The cash was recovered from a seat pocket in the business-class section.

The money was wrapped in a bundle of newspapers.

Hu was later arrested.

As for Zhang, he was seen rummaging through Mr Swann's laptop bag, and replacing it in the overhead baggage compartment.

The pair could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined for theft.

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