Two women injured as three men rob Ang Mo Kio massage parlour

A provision shop employee was surprised when a woman suddenly dashed in and ran up the stairs.

Moments later, two men barged in to look for the woman.

The female worker, who declined to be named, told Lianhe Wanbao about her confusion when the woman rushed in.

"I wasn't sure what was happening. When I turned around again, two men had entered the store in search of the woman," she told the Chinese language newspaper on Monday.

When she blocked the men from going up the stairs, one of them shouted: "She stole my money. Get her to come out here."

After a brief stand-off, the men left when they realised the police were on their way.

The shop employee later found the woman, who works as a masseuse in a nearby massage parlour, hiding in a toilet upstairs. The masseuse, who had a cut on her neck, told her the two men and another accomplice were robbers.

She said one of them had used a penknife to slash her and a colleague, who is believed to have been hurt on the arm.

She added that the men spotted her as she was trying to furtively call the police, so she decided to make a run for it.

The police said yesterday that the robbery occurred at Block 532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 at around 3pm on Monday.

Two women aged between 30 and 35 sustained mild injuries after they were slashed and robbed.

The men escaped with five mobile phones belonging to the two injured victims and another colleague.

Officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division later arrested three men aged between 37 and 50 after establishing their identities through ground inquiries and closed-circuit television footage.

The police statement did not mention where the suspects were nabbed.

When The New Paper went to the scene yesterday, the massage parlour was closed.

Mr Hong Maw Chai, who works at a nearby coffee shop said he was shocked by the incident and had seen paramedics treating one of the victims.

SCREAMING

Some customers at the coffee shop told Wanbao on Monday that they heard a woman screaming after the men entered the parlour.

One of the masseuses was then seen running out of the parlour and entering a neighbouring provision shop.

Workers in nearby shops confirmed that the women worked in the massage parlour and were frequently seen in the area.

A worker at a nearby hair salon told Wanbao that he had seen two of the men loitering in the area from about noon.

He described the men as well-dressed. One was plump and wore sunglasses while the other was slim.

"They kept pacing around the area and occasionally sat on the chairs outside the massage parlour," he said.

Mr Kenneth Tan, a project director in his late 20s who lives in the area, told TNP: "When I was at the scene an hour later, I saw blood on a bench."

"I saw police officers walk in and out of the massage parlour. At 9pm, I noticed that the parlour was closed, which is unusual because it is usually open till late," he said.

Some 20 to 30 police officers were at the scene, reported citizen journalism website Stomp.

The suspects will be charged in court today with robbery with hurt, which carries a jail term of five to 20 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane.

READ MORE