Man jailed for stealing Universal Studios tickets

In his own words, he had given in to temptation.

Muhammad Syawal Kamis, 25, stole 75 Universal Studios Singapore (USS) tickets from his employer, Ace Tours & Travel, at People's Park Complex on Nov 15 last year.

The tickets were worth around $4,400.

Yesterday, Muhammad, who is married and has a baby son, was sentenced to four months' jail for the theft.

He told the court: "I shouldn't have stolen the tickets... The only thing I can wish for now is to be more responsible and think of consequences for the wrong things that I wanted to do."

The then operations coordinator managed to sell 19 of the 75 tickets online.

He earned $950 by selling them at $50 apiece - $9 off the original price.

EXPENSES

Muhammad's lawyer, Mr Amarick Gill, said his client had spent the money on daily and family expenses.

Muhammad committed the theft after he was asked twice by a senior colleague to retrieve some tickets from a cupboard in the manager's office.

He saw many tickets in the cupboard and during his second trip there, he grabbed a stack of tickets and hid them in his pocket.

He later counted them in the toilet and realised he had taken too many - 75 tickets.

Muhammad planned to return 50 tickets when he was asked again to get more tickets from the cupboard.

But he was not asked to go to the manager's office again that day.

Muhammad placed an online advertisement that afternoon and subsequently sold 19 tickets.

Two days later, the managing director of the travel agency made a police report after discovering the theft.

He suspected that Muhammad had stolen the tickets.

By then, seven of the sold tickets had been used.

Those who had the remaining 12 tickets were denied entry into USS.

On the same day, Muhammad's senior colleague sent him a WhatsApp message asking if he had taken the tickets.

Fearing that he would be caught, Muhammad threw the remaining 56 tickets into the rubbish chute in his flat.

The next day, when police officers went to his office to interview him and his colleagues, Muhammad admitted to his misdeed.

This article was first published on March 13, 2015.
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