Man who fled Singapore to avoid jail caught at Changi Airport 24 years later
A Singaporean who fled in 2002 to avoid an 18-month jail term for cheating a government agency out of a grant disbursement was caught at Changi Airport and jailed for another 14 months and three weeks on Aug. 11.
Tan Khi Wie, a 58-year-old man, was apprehended at Changi Airport on March 7 after attempting to evade a 24-year prison sentence. He entered Singapore using an Indonesian passport under the name Ken Srona. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers discovered his true identity and alerted the police. Tan was convicted of multiple charges, including failing to present a valid passport and making false statements on arrival documents.
His original sentence, handed down in 2002 for fraud, amounted to about two years and nine months in prison. By serving the 18-month term he fled, his overall jail time will total nearly three years. Tan had initially filed an appeal against the original conviction but missed a court appearance in 2003, leading to the issuance of a warrant for his arrest.
He fled the country by boat to Thailand and eventually settled in Indonesia, utilizing assumed identities to re-enter Singapore between 2011 and 2016. ICA has implemented enhanced security measures, including biometric scanning at checkpoints, to prevent such evasions.
Written by urgent.news from VnExpress International's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
