Singapore police arrested the man who allegedly threatened to blow up ValueMax pawnshop, near Boon Lay MRT Station after his failed attempt to rob the shop by using a knife and a fake gun.
The man turned up at the pawnshop at about 4.30pm on Saturday, July 28 while wearing a pink Punjabi turban blue jacket, brown pants and carrying a backpack and threatened the shop staff to hand over cash and jewellery.
When the staff did not agree to his terms, the man claimed that he had some explosive device that can blow the place. After refusing to fulfil his demands, the man flung the object on the pawnshop's counter and escaped from the place without taking any item.
Before the arrival of the police, the staff of the shop threw that alleged explosive device out of the shop. During the investigation, police came to know that the object only contained some electrical components. Later, the police officials ordered to close an exit at the MRT station temporarily, while checking the explosive.
The officers also secured an area between the MRT station and the nearby Jurong Point shopping mall. They asked people to stay away from the incident spot and directed MRT staff to stop commuters from entering the station for a while.
The executive director of ValueMax, Yeah Lee Ching told TODAY that the moustached robber, who is about 1.75m tall, looked to be in his early 20s.
However, the police classified the case under Section 4(A) of the Arms Offences Act, which states that "subject to any exception referred to in Chapter IV of the Penal Code which may be applicable (other than section 95), any person who uses or attempts to use any arm at the time of his committing or attempting to commit any scheduled offence shall, whether or not he has any intention to cause physical injury to any person or property, be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punished with death."
After the arrest, now police will conduct a press conference at around 10 am on Thursday to make their statement on this case.
