Man Stole Crabs Worth Over $10,000 From Punggol Crab Vending Machine

We’ve heard of people stealing jewelry.

Undergarments.

Money.

Hearts.

But crabs?

That’s definitely a first.

Man Stole Crabs Worth Over $10,000 From Punggol Crab Vending Machine

According to Lianhe Zaobao, a 59-year-old man was caught stealing 11 crabs from House of Seafood on Monday (21 September).

The theft case amounted to $1,000 in total.

Apparently, a staff member was serving some customers when they informed her that a man was hiding behind a claw machine.

(Lest you’re unaware, the establishment had revealed a crab claw machine last year and animal groups in Singapore are not happy with their decision.)

As it turns out, the man had also retrieved crabs from the tank.

According to the report, the machine initially had 10 crabs nestled inside. By the time she looked over, however, it was empty.

Upon realisation, the staff in question proceeded to question the suspicious man. The latter, appearing annoyed, then said that he’ll return the crabs.

Grabbing three from his bag, he tossed them on the ground.

Sorry, couldn’t help it.

And A Wild Crab Chase Soon Occurred

According to MustShareNews, the man then tried to make a run for it.

The staff, meanwhile, was in hot pursuit.

Apparently, the female staff member had clung on to the man’s bag the entire time, while she communicated with her manager via a walkie-talkie.

With the assistance of three members of the public, the man was eventually subdued at a nearby bus stop.

But if you thought that the bizarre part was over…

Well, you’ve another thing coming.

For some reason, police arrived at the scene only to discover another 64-year-old man who supposedly had 5 crabs in his possession.

What’s this, a crab-trafficking ring?

Later on, the police confirmed that the younger man has been apprehended on theft charges, while the other was nabbed for ‘receiving stolen goods’.

Investigations are currently ongoing.

Also, is there really a crab-trafficking ring or something?

Serial ‘Crab Stealer’

It seems that this isn’t the first time that the 59-year-old man had been taking crabs from the Punggol establishment without consent.

Apparently, the aforementioned attempt was his 4th this year. In total, 81 crabs have been stolen: 15 in January, 15 in February, a whopping 40 in April and 11 in September.

According to Francis Ng, the founder of House of Seafood, the missing crabs amounted to over $10,000.

Well, guess you could say that crabs are certainly worth their weight in gold.

Live Crab Claw Machine

The House of Seafood’s live crab claw machine was first unveiled on 13 October 2019, when a 12-second video of the machine was announced on their Facebook page.

The premise is simple: put lots of live crabs into a claw machine and let people catch the crabs.

It’ll cost $5 for a game, and if you catch one, you can get the restaurant to cook the crab for free.

Apparently, the tank holding the crabs is cushioned so that if the crabs fall after being caught, the drop and impact are minimised. Kind of like a WWE stage, but think a much smaller one that caters to crabs instead of The Undertaker.

Suffice to say, the machine swiftly went viral… though not exactly for a positive reason.

People weren’t happy that the crabs are being treated as toys—it was described as “inhumane treatment” and that the crabs shouldn’t have to go through this before they’re treated as food.

And SPCA agreed.

They also filed a report with AVS to shut down the claw machine down.

For the record, AVS is Animal & Veterinary Service, a regulator by NParks that safeguards the health and welfare of animals. AVS, together with SFA (Singapore Food Agency), used to be AVA.

Soon after, the machine was temporarily shut down on the basis of going “under maintenance”.

The SPCA, however, wanted it to be shut down completely.

Though as time passed by, it seems that the matter has slowly been granted some leeway.

But now that the issue has resurfaced again, one can’t help but wonder about the backlash it might bring.

And whether it will be, once again, forced to go “under maintenance”.

Well, I guess only time will tell.

On a side note, it should be noted that the crab claw machine is not the first of its kind.

But it was, certainly, the first in Singapore.

And as far as the average newspaper-reading layman’s concerned…

It has also spawned the first crab thief.

Not exactly something to be outright proud of though, I guess.

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