A Chinese male tour guide stole 885 US dollars from a female passenger's wallet due to debts on a local passenger plane. After being questioned by the female passenger, he hid the cash on the luggage rack and was sentenced to eight months in jail on Tuesday.

The defendant Zhang Youqi (30 years old, transliteration) was a tour guide at the time of the incident and he faced a charge of theft.

The case shows that the defendant took a cool flight from Jeju Island to Kuala Lumpur on February 4 this year. The flight was transferred in Singapore and is expected to arrive at Changi Airport at 1:48 pm that day.

A 42-year-old Chinese female passenger took out her coin and used a credit card to buy food from her backpack placed in the luggage compartment above one hour before the plane landed. Afterwards, she put her backpack back into the luggage compartment.

The defendant, who was sitting six rows behind the female passenger, saw that the female passenger was using a brand-name bag, so he had a bad idea. He took the female passenger's backpack from the luggage compartment, took it back to his seat, stole the $885 (about S$1,197) from his coin bag, and then put the backpack back into the luggage compartment.

Further reading

Female Indian tourist stealing from the airport transit area to be charged

Female Indian tourist stealing from the airport transit area to be charged

Fu Zhuhui: When the lights are turned off at the departure…

Fu Zhuhui: When the lights are turned off at the departure...

The female passenger saw the defendant put her backpack back into the luggage compartment and questioned the defendant on the spot. The defendant replied that he was looking for his bag and opened the nearby luggage compartment, pretending to be looking for the bag.

Worried about the crime being revealed, the defendant hid the stolen cash in one of the luggage compartments while looking for the bag.

The female passenger felt something was wrong and immediately checked her backpack and found that the US dollar in her coin wallet was stolen. She decided to go up to question the defendant with her husband.

The defendant denied that it was a thief, and the incident attracted the attention of the flight attendant. Then two passengers stood up and said that they saw the defendant holding the female passenger's backpack with their own eyes, and finally exposed the defendant's crime.

The defendant initially denied the crime while under investigation, but he finally confessed that he would commit the crime in order to pay off his debt.

The judge said when verdict, the aircraft theft incident was not easy to be exposed and caused inconvenience to other passengers. Therefore, it is necessary to impose severe punishment on the defendants to prevent similar incidents from happening.