- When it came to his issues with his employer, turns out he was carrying a lot of baggage.
Losing your luggage happens. But maybe it doesn’t have to happen quite as often as it does. Especially at a Singapore airport…
20-Day Jail Sentence
An ex-baggage handler allegedly swapped the tags on the baggage he was in charge of. On the 11th, 66-year-old Tay Boon Keh was sentenced under the Penal Code for mischief, which is an offense to cause wrongful loss or damage to another person’s property. In what is believed to be the first time he did this, Mr. Keh pleaded guilty, in October of 2018 (when he was caught and brought to court, the offense was in 2016-2017).
First Time
In 2016-2017 (November 2016-February 2017) Mr. Keh was employed by industrial equipment supplier Lian Chang Contracting, a subcontractor of Changi Airport Group (CAG). The court heard that he was suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) during this time.
The Hearing
A Newton hearing was recently held to determine if there was a link between his offenses and condition. District Judge Jasvender Kaur said she found that his condition “had not caused or significantly contributed to the offending,” according to TheStar.com. She added that she accepted the evidence which was presented by Dr. Ton Phern Chern, who has had experience with patients who suffer depressing in relation to their work.
And Now, A Word From The Judge
“In the case of the accused, he remarkably continued to go to work diligently during the entire period of offending. The accused stopped swapping the luggage tags immediately upon his transfer in February 2017 to an easier job. Dr. Tor pointed out that… If the MDD was causing him to do the swapping, he would not have been able to stop immediately,” said Judge Kaur. She also said that Mr. Keh’s offenses were ‘not trivial’ and they resulted in ‘significant monetary and reputational losses’ to the affected carriers and Changi Airport. “The accused had come up with a plan to exact revenge on his employer for perceived unfair working conditions and abused his position… Over close to 3 1/2 months,” said Judge Kaur.
What He Used To Do
Mr. Keh started working with the Explosive Detection System X-Ray machine at Belt 7-5 later that month. Whenever there was a breakdown, Mr. Keh had to move bags from Belt 7-5 to another X-Ray machine at Belt 7-5 about 6 meters away. The machine broke down several times daily. “The accused was alone when he preformed the swapping of the tags, and he did it in an area which was out of the CCTV view,” said Judge Kaur.
How Did They Know?
The whole thing came to light after SIA and SilkAir told ground handling company Sats that some of the passengers’ bag’s tags had been tampered with. CAG had earlier said that it was an isolated case of mischief. It has since enhanced access control as well as closed-circuit television (CCTV) in the baggage handling area. Patrols have also stepped up. For each offense, offenders can be jailed for a year, as well as fined. Mr. Keh swapped 286 pieces, causing trouble for 221 passengers. There were two carriers who had to pay compensation totaling to more than 42,000 dollars. So for him only to get 20-day jail time, is getting off lucky…