Masked man armed with chopper tries to rob Bedok pawn shop

SINGAPORE — A masked man armed with a chopper attempted to rob a pawn shop at Bedok on Friday (July 12) but fled empty-handed when he could not smash open glass cabinets containing gold bracelets.

Terrified staff at the Bedok ValueMax pawn shop in Block 213 Bedok North Street 1 told TODAY that at about 1.55pm, they saw a medium-built masked man, with gloves on, entering the shop with a chopper in his hand.

ValueMax’s manager, Mr Choo Yong Chang, 67, said that the man slammed the chopper on one of the shop’s glass cabinets but said nothing.

Mr Choo said: “He (the masked man) slammed the chopper’s blade on the glass drawer to scare us, that was when we realised something was wrong.”

He and his staff were unsure of the man’s intention and worried he might also have a gun.

“We were not so afraid of the material losses because there is insurance, but more fearful if he starts slashing at us with the chopper, so we immediately called the police,” he said.

Mr Choo Yong Chang, 67, the manager of the ValueMax outlet, said staff were worried the man might slash them. Photo: Rebecca Metteo/TODAY

Mr Choo said the man ran off when he found he was unable to break through the shop’s glass cabinets after about five to 10 minutes.

The police arrived soon after. In a brief statement, police said they had been alerted to “a case of attempted robbery” about 1.55pm on Friday.

The glass drawer containing rows of gold bracelets did not break, but suffered a few cracks, which the workers temporarily mended using masking tape.

“The glass was only slightly damaged but luckily it did not break, otherwise it would have been worse,” Mr Choo said.

The pawn shop has more than 20 CCTV cameras.

Miss Crystal Ling, 24, a staff member at a nearby jewellery shop, Spring Jewellery, did not realise anything was amiss until police arrived.

“It was very peaceful until I saw many policemen, about five to six of them, after the incident that I realised something was wrong,” she said.

Miss Ling said the police later showed her a screenshot of the masked man. Going by the screenshot, she described the masked man as tall, of medium build with relatively dark skin.

Workers TODAY spoke to in the area mostly thought that the neighbourhood is relatively safe. Mr Choo said that this was the first time the shop had been the target of an attempted robbery.

Police investigations are ongoing.