'It was traumatic': Singaporean's bag gets snatched by motorcyclist in JB, says he won't go there any more

A Singaporean man was left traumatised after his bag was snatched by a motorcyclist during his weekend trip to Mount Austin, Johor Bahru. 

Inside the bag was 55-year-old Anthony Chea's passport, phone and cash amounting to RM500 ($142) as well as an additional $200 Singapore dollars, said his friend Lisa Hairanee Bidin to AsiaOne on Dec 19.

The snatch theft occurred outside the 1 Million Hotel on Sept 16, when the pair of friends were walking back to their accommodation after having breakfast nearby.

A clip of the hotel's CCTV footage posted to TikTok on Sunday (Dec 17) by Hairanee shows a motorcyclist and his pillion rider slowly approaching the Singaporeans from behind.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@hairaneebidin/video/7313186597694983442?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7301163994932037128[/embed]

As the thieves ride past the unsuspecting victims, the pillion rider reaches out and grabs Chea's sling bag.

Shocked by the sudden turn of events, the friends stood in stunned silence before giving chase to the fleeing motorcyclist, but to no avail. 

Describing the snatch thief as a man believed to be in his 20s or 30s, Hairanee told AsiaOne that they immediately reported the incident to the Johor police.

However, there has been no outcome of the investigation, she said.

Although the pair had planned to stay in Malaysia till Sunday (Sept 17), they decided to return to Singapore on that day.

"We just wanted to go back, but due to his lost passport we couldn't leave," explained Hairanee, adding that Chea had to wait till Monday to complete the necessary paperwork needed before he could return to Singapore.

"Both Anthony and I are traumatised by the incident, we both have no intention of going back to JB."

AsiaOne has reached out to the Malaysian police for more information.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com