45-Year-Old Man Sentenced to 10 Days in Jail After Shoplifting at Singapore's Changi Airport

A 45-year-old man sentenced to 10 days' jail on Friday, October 31, after pleading guilty to three theft charges.

This comes after Aaron Gary Slater went on a shoplifting spree in Changi Airport while he was waiting for his flight to Maldives and stole almost S$3,500 worth of items from multiple shops.

The Australian committed the offenses on September 2 while traveling through Changi Airport's Terminal 2 after arriving by plane from Melbourne.

He went into Tumi, a store that sold travel gear, at about 7:30 pm that day, took one piece of blue Tumi luggage off the shelf that was worth S$1,045 and walked out without paying.

The CCTV in the store recorded his behavior.

Additionally, he stole a S$113 pink set of Victoria's Secret pajamas, two pairs of Oakley sunglasses valued at over S$340 each, a S$365 pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, a S$81 brown Adidas bag, and a S$52 Starbucks tumbler that night.

He also took five bracelets, a black Hard Rock Cafe cap, and a luggage tag.

After a salesperson at the Ray-Ban store reported a theft, he was apprehended. When airport security caught sight of him during the departure transit, they discovered the stolen goods on him.

Investigations also showed that Slater stole a black Tumi sling bag valued at over S$600 from a display shelf on July 28 while traveling through Singapore and fled the store without paying for it.

When the store employee noticed what he was doing, he chased after him, retrieved the sling bag, and put it back on the shelf. At the time, no police report was filed on this issue.

Defense attorney Tania Chin argued that Slater should be imprisoned for three days, stating that "he has been stuck in Singapore with no family support and has not been able to work during this period."

Theft in residence carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine.

The number of shop theft cases increased from 2,013 in 2024 to 2,097 in the first half of 2025.

With 4,237 cases in 2024, shop theft was the most frequent physical crime, up 7.6% from 3,939 cases in 2023.