Fake robbery piques people's curiosity

MANY are curious as to what led a woman to stage an elaborate day-time robbery in Gadong in an attempt to get away with more than $20,000 of her employer's money.



"It's really something you don't hear about everyday. Think about it why would she do something like that? It had to be out of desperation or something," said a 26-year-old Bruneian student studying abroad, who was following the case at home through the Internet and friends.

"Or maybe she was being greedy", added the political science undergraduate.

When asked to elaborate what he meant by this, the student said: "She had a lot of money on her. With that amount of money in front of you, in your hand, then it (the hand) can get itchy".

The woman, who was said to be in police custody, but whose name has not been disclosed, reportedly took out the large amount of money that was meant to pay for the wages of her colleagues.

It was even believed that she made the withdrawal on behalf of the company, which was also not named, several days before she staged the knifepoint robbery.

An employer, who asked not to be named, said that a great deal of trust went into a person who was given a responsibility to handle company money. The hardware appliances retailer said that since his own company was of manageable size, he carried out this duty himself.

"But I can (understand) that in bigger companies, that they (the employer) cannot do this himself and has to get someone else to do it, (therefore) he has to get someone he trusts."

Based on this, the hardware appliance salesman speculated that the woman might have been a trusted person to the company and probably worked there for quite some time.

"I think it's embarrassing. It's shameful to see how people are willing to play (as) the victim just to acquire money," said another member of the public, who just wanted to be known as Hj Azhisham.

"I think she caved under the pressure of how serious people took the news and didn't realise how much attention the incident had gotten," the 26-year old car salesman added.

While all those interviewed yesterday denounced the alleged actions of the woman, there was a sense of sympathy as some speculated that the woman's motive could have been fuelled by her present financial situation.

"There's no denying that what she did, if she really did that (staged the robbery), was wrong but you can't help it but to feel sorry for the woman. Who knows, maybe she worked for the company for a long time and ran into money trouble," said one working mother-of-two.

Wishing to be known only as Nora HT, the corporate sector personnel figured that the woman's husband or family could have recently encountered some bad debt and needed the money urgently.

"You never know because you hear a lot of these stories (of financially-troubled households) in Brunei recently. So, it could be that (the woman's motive)."

"But if that's true, then maybe it (peoples financial situations) is more serious than we think it is, she added, urging authorities to look deeper into the matter".

When contacted by The Brunei Times, the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) said that they are still investigating the case and is unable to disclose further information.The Brunei Times