Macau Judiciary Police help nab chips forger

Toh Hock Thiam, the man behind the largest counterfeit casino chip scam in Singapore, was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years and four months in jail, The Straits Times reported yesterday.
Toh was arraigned in court last month on 13 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to exchange fake casino chips for cash at Marina Bay Sands (MBS),run by Las Vegas Sands, an Integrated Resort in Singapore.
The 14-day trial leading to his conviction relates to a counterfeit scam dating back to the end of 2015, when Toh exchanged 1,291 fake chips for cash at the Singaporean casino between the evening of November 22 and early morning of November 23.
The loss attributed to MBS due to the scam amounts to nearly S$1.3 million (US$940,773/MOP7.55 million) the publication reports.
The scheme was discovered only a week later when a cashier noticed a slight discolouration in one of the chips.
The forger had been apprehended in Malaysia on December 31, 2015, with the help of Malaysian police and Macau Judiciary Police, and handed over to the Singapore police authorities the next day.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Asoka Markandu said Toh was directly responsible for 420 counterfeit chips, but the court heard he could be indirectly held accountable for the total losses MBS sustained.
Court documents did not reveal, however, where the counterfeit chips were made.
Two accomplices also participated in the scam, one helping Toh distribute the chips and collect the money, the other helping to recruit some 16 runners.