'Zero tolerance' towards property vandals regardless of age: SPF

​The police have "zero tolerance" towards loanshark harassment, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Sunday (May 8).

In a press release, the police said three men aged between 19 and 20 were nabbed for their suspected involvement in a case of loanshark harassment with fire which was reported at Blk 554 Bedok North Street 3 last Monday. 

They were arrested near Chai Chee Road and Compassvale Drive on Saturday after investigations and ground enquiries, and preliminary investigations have linked them to two other cases of loanshark harassment by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on properties. 

The three will be charged in court on Monday (May 9) and face up to five years' imprisonment and a fine of up to S$50,000. They may also be sentenced to between three and six strokes of the cane. 

This is the latest in a string of loanshark harassment-related arrests this week. On Wednesday, two men, aged 21 and 25, and a 19-year-old teenager were arrested in relation to two separate cases involving loanshark-related graffiti in Ang Mo Kio and Jurong East. One day later, two youths aged 16 and 18 were also arrested for allegedly engaging in loanshark harassment involving fire at Lengkok Bahru. Then on Friday, a 15-year-old girl and 25-year-old woman were arrested for suspected involvement in the loanshark-related vandalism of a residential unit at Jurong West. 

"Those who deliberately vandalise properties will be arrested swiftly and dealt with severely in accordance with the law," the police said, adding that perpetrators could expect to be caned and jailed "for damaging property and causing alarm to the general community". 

"No effort will be spared to nab them to face the full consequences of their misdeeds regardless of their age," it said.