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Money couriers continue their risky business despite attacks

SINGAPORE — Carrying backpacks, laptop bags or trolley bags full of cash in foreign currencies, they typically arrive at the HarbourFront ferry terminal and make their way — often taking the MRT — to The Arcade, a popular money-changing hub next to Raffles Place MRT Station.

Money changers at The Arcade. Photo: Geneieve Teo

Money changers at The Arcade. Photo: Geneieve Teo

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SINGAPORE — Carrying backpacks, laptop bags or trolley bags full of cash in foreign currencies, they typically arrive at the HarbourFront ferry terminal and make their way — often taking the MRT — to The Arcade, a popular money-changing hub next to Raffles Place MRT Station.

There, they trade their wads of money — sometimes amounting to millions in Singapore dollars — for other currencies. Once done, they return to their countries with bags of cash in tow — all in a day’s work.

For these foreign couriers who work for money-changers in their homelands, the Republic offers a higher exchange rate and a wider range of currencies — sufficient reason, it seems, for them to risk their lives.

Two high-profile attacks on foreign couriers in recent years — one of which saw an Indonesian courier stabbed right outside Raffles Place MRT Station last Friday — have not deterred the practice, money-changers at The Arcade told TODAY.

The attack on Mr Kang Tie Tie, 37, had stunned the bustling lunchtime crowd in the Central Business District. The alleged assailant has been charged with armed robbery. Court documents showed Mr Kang was carrying a sling bag containing almost S$800,000 in cash and cash cheques. He has been discharged from hospital.

In August 2012, a 26-year-old Indonesian courier, Suhardi Tan, was found dead in a stairwell at The Arcade. The alleged attacker fled the country, presumably with the money that Tan had changed. The Indonesian’s family told the media that he would take a ferry almost every morning from Batam to Singapore and head to the hub.

A money-changer at HarbourFront said: “When we asked them why (they don’t trade with HarbourFront’s money-changers), the couriers said they get a better deal at The Arcade ... The money-changers there can deal in up to S$2 million, but here we deal only in the hundreds of thousands.”

While the number of foreign couriers visiting The Arcade had dropped after the 2012 incident — which resulted in heightened security in the building, such as more closed-circuit television cameras and security patrols — money-changers there said they still do business with a regular stream of couriers.

Mr Jamal, a money-changer who has been working at The Arcade for the past six years, said he buys rupiah from a regular courier at least twice a week and sometimes up to four times a week, trading up to S$400,000 each time.

He added that the couriers usually come in pairs for added security.

When TODAY visited The Arcade yesterday, a group of men were spotted transferring money between backpacks. When approached, they said that they were from Batam, but declined to speak further.

The Commercial Affairs Department website states that any person entering or leaving Singapore with physical currency or bearer negotiable instruments, such as cheques or money orders, exceeding S$20,000 is required to declare the amount. Failure to do so is an offence under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, and offenders could be fined up to S$50,000 or jailed a maximum of three years. The cash may also be seized.

Earlier this month, money-changer Ali Yousouf Saiboo, 35, was also robbed of more than S$600,000 in cash at a car park in Aljunied Crescent. A suspect was arrested and charged in court.

Following the incidents, the Money Changers Association of Singapore has urged its members to hire armed escorts such as Certis Cisco officers when transporting large amounts of money. But Mr Mohamed Rafeeq, the association’s secretary, told Channel NewsAsia: “It is expensive. We are not earning big money. Our margin is very, very small. So we are not able to pay S$200 or S$160 per hour to Cisco. Life is important; money is also important, so we have to get security from professionals if it is necessary.”

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