Cookies!

Sorry, not the confectionery kind.... Just a few bites of today's news.... the ones I liked anyway... :p

So... From the Straits Times, Mar 19:

Big hunt for robbers who fled to Tekong

Full ST article here

SAF personnel are now combing the island of Tekong, hunting down 3 armed robbers, who fled there from the nearby coast of Pengerang, Johor. Right now, they're focusing on the northern part of the island and they've got guardsmen, recon troops, Special Operations Command and Gurkhas, along with 12 search dogs.

Gee, that's a pretty huge party searching for 3 men.

Now comes the chips.

Firstly, I donno what the robbers were thinking when they decided to flee to Tekong of all places. [let's see, fear of capture, fear of death, fear of imprisonment... pretty much that] The conversation must have went like this:

[in Malay]
A: Ok, that veg stall owner was a bad idea, but hey!! We got RM8000 from the boat! Yahoo!
B: But now how?? Going into Singapore meh?
C: Better not ah! They cane people there one leh!
A: Eh, down there got island, got jungle some more, we can hide there first!
B: OK! Good idea!
C: Er, why got men hiding in the trees carrying guns ah?

So pretty much, they flee the Johor police force..... to end up on a Singaporean military camp where almost every man is armed. Granted the NS guys are probably untrained, but think about it. If you're scared shit, tired, and untrained, with a rifle in your hand, and the first thing you see jumping out of the forest is a guy with a gun pointing at your head...... [Argh!!! BANG! BANG! BANG!]

No wonder all NSmen were ordered to stay confined to barracks the whole time the search on the island was going on. Their nonchalance at the situation, however, belies the serious nature of it all. At the time the searchers were ploughing through the jungle and the rain, these guys were gleeful for having their road march cancelled and one battalion was having their battalion party as planned. Hello? We have armed brigands here? These are the defenders of my children?

Then the really BIG chocolate chips come up. If you read between the lines, you come up with the following chips:
1) The robbers are on a jungle island, with cash and jewellery.
2) They are believed to have fled to Tekong early yesterday morning.
3) The troops began searching at about 11am yesterday.

What does that tell you guys? C'mon, think about it!

Think hard!

Any clues?

None at all?

You're getting irritated at this?

Ok fine.
1) Cash and jewellery cannot be used in the jungle, and obviously not be pawned to the SAF on the island. Where is the next nearest place the robbers can use their loot, if the hunt for them in Johor is on?
2) + 3) The robbers fled there early yesterday morning, which could mean anywhere from 7 in the morning, to 11 when the search came on. Which means they could have had at least 4 hours to escape to somewhere else where they could use their loot.

Where is the next nearest place for them to cash in their loot? You got it..... Pulau Singapura itself......

These guys are now being chased hard, both in Johor and Tekong. Assuming I was one of them, it would seem to me that my next desperate course of action would be to make my way to Singapore somehow. I can't go back to Pengerang, because I'm being hunted there. I can't stay in Tekong, because the place is small, and crawling with armed personnel more armed than I am. If I had arrived in Tekong around 7-8am, that still gives me time to make my way to Singapore before they think to search for me in Tekong. And since Singapore is slightly bigger, if I move fast enough, I can maybe get into the island, hide in the crowd and then figure out my next move. And while I'm at it, hey, maybe I'll hock that nice gold necklace for some cash somewhere.

So, unless the robbers are more stupid or desperate than I think, the possibility of there being 3 scared, desperate armed men roaming the streets at this moment right now seems very, very real. Which, on the bright side, beats having bombs placed in messenger bags all along the MRT tracks.

Right now, not much is being mentioned about the robbers except for the article in the papers, so either there's no development on it, or they don' wan' us to panic about the prospect. [Argh! Shriek! Eek!] I'm just hoping that the thieves are either slower or more stupid than I gave them credit for, and that they find them fast, and not on the mainland. Gun violence in Singapore. Who'd've thunk?