A tour guide who was spotted stealing money from another traveler on a Scoot flight from Jeju to Singapore was jailed for eight months on Tuesday ( Feb 25 ).  ,
When spotted by the sufferer, Zhang Youqi, a Chinese nationwide, lied that he had been searching for his bag.  ,
Zhang, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud at the State Courts.  ,
Zhang was on board the same Scoot journey as the victim, a 42-year-old girl, on Feb 4. Around 1.48 p.m., the trip was scheduled to arrive in Singapore. Zhang had then travel to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.  ,
A colored Gucci haversack case was placed in the overhead compartment close to where the sufferer was seated by her husband. She kept US money and Chinese yuan in a pouch inside the case.  ,
Zhang’s classic seats was in the same column as the sufferer, but he moved two rows back as the plane rolled over because there were no seats available.  ,  ,
The victim leaned forward to get her credit cards from her handbag at around 1 p.m. to purchase food on the plane. Li observed her and saw the victim’s labeled bag.  ,
The accused “made the intent to seek the handbag for any belongings to steal” because of their ambition, deputy public prosecutor Cheronne Lim told the jury.  ,
After that, Zhang removed the case and returned it to the new desk. He found the pocket, inserted some of the money into his jacket’s left pocket, and then removed the rest.  ,
The woman spotted him while he was returning the case to the overhead compartment close to the murderer’s chair, which he had just done. She lied that Zhang was looking for his personal case when she inquired what he was doing with it.
Even though he was aware that his case was close to his new seats, he began opening a few more overhead compartments while pretending to look for them.  ,
He placed the money in an overhead chamber where it was later discovered because he was afraid he would get caught with it.  ,
The target discovered dollars missing from the pack while searching her handbag. She and her father confronted Zhang, who denied the crime.  , By therefore, the cabin crew had been alerted to the position.  ,
Two more than 100 individuals reported seeing Zhang with the case when they spoke.  ,
The cabin crew located US$ 885 in Zhang’s overhead room when the planes arrived in Singapore after checking the bandwidth compartments.  ,
The money was returned to the target. She found that 1, 000 yuan ( US$ 138 ) was also missing from her bag, but this sum was not recovered.  ,
Zhang continued to deny the theft, but finally admitted to wanting to steal it to pay off Chinese debts. He was subsequently arrested.  ,
For robbery, Zhang could have been jailed up to three years, fined, or both.  ,