FOUR teenage girls aged 15 and 16 years have been arrested for suspected involvement in loansharking activities.  The first suspect was detained by two members of public while the other three were nabbed on Sunday through follow-up investigations.

Police said a man was leaving his flat when he saw two female teenagers behaving suspiciously along the corridor near a staircase landing. The two teens fled when they realised they had been spotted but the man gave chase, joined by his father who happened to be walking home. Together, they managed to detain one of the girls at a nearby void deck.

The girl had on her a marker, cans of paints and plastic bags of paint. Loanshark graffitti believed to have been scrawled by the girls was also found at the staircase landing of one block in the vicinity.  Following the first arrest, officers soon established the identities of three other accomplices and rounded them up later.

First-time offenders found guilty of loanshark harassment face a fine of between $4,000 and $40,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.  Superintendent Hsu Sin Yun, Commander of Ang Mo Kio Police Division HQ, thanked the two members of public for their public-spiritedness and cautioned youths against being made use of by loansharks to carry out illegal activities.

In just the first three months of the year, police had to deal with nearly 4,000 cases of loanshark harassment tactics. That is double the number in the same period last year.  In has become so bad that police are considering nailing those who borrow from loansharks as well.