RM150,000 Worth Of RM50 Notes Rained Down On Singapore’s BKE And Caused A Traffic Jam
We can only imagine how it must feel like to have so much money literally rain down on us.
By Samantha Khor — 07 Aug 2015, 01:38 PM
It literally rained money on Singapore's Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) on Monday evening (3 August) when about RM150,000 worth of RM50 notes went flying from an unsuspecting motocyclist's unzipped bag
What happened next is a no-brainer, really. Several motorists stopped by the side of the road and rushed to pick up as many RM50 notes as they could, to the extent of ignoring oncoming traffic to get to the ones scattered in middle of expressway.
The incident took place at around 6.20pm near the area where the Seletar Expressway (SLE) connects to the BKE.
The notes were strewn across about 50m of the four-lane BKE, leading to chaos and traffic congestion as motorists stopped and scrambled to grab whatever they could.
It was pretty much chaos as cars were forced to slow down to avoid hitting those people, leading to traffic congestion along the four-lane expressway
About 10 people could be seen picking up the notes at the side of the expressway. One motorcyclist was even seen cutting across three lanes, seemingly to park at the roadside so he could pick up the notes.
However, bus passengers aboard SMRT bus service 966 could only watch wistfully as their bus driver drove through the commotion, refusing to stop for them to alight and grab some of the money
Annie Sim, 50, said: "It was like the lucky draw thing when you stand in a glass box and grab the money flying all around you, except the money was flying outside. The bus was packed at that time with the evening crowd, and people started shouting at the bus driver to stop, but he refused."
"At the next bus stop, some of the alighting passengers told the bus driver off, saying if he had stopped, all of us could have got off and grabbed the money," she added.
Some level-headed ones preferred not to get into the action, citing safety concerns and the possible legal consequences from picking money from unknown sources off the road
Liu, 60, who works in the construction business, said: "It seemed like the notes were flying out of a plastic bag that had dropped on the road. I did not stop as I was scared, and also worried for the safety of the motorists and the ones who stopped to pick the money."
36-year-old photographer Billy Cane said he did not pick up any of the money either.
"I didn't dare to pick, because I could get into trouble if it belongs to the authorities or a bank," he said. "It could also be someone else's hard earned money. Or worse, what if it was illegal or dirty money?"
He added that he also did not want to put himself in danger, saying, "It's an expressway, and cars move fast. It can be very dangerous to just walk around in the middle of the road like that."
According to lawyer James Ow Yong of Kalco Law, pocketing the money could be considered an offence on the grounds of "dishonest misappropriation of property or fraudulent possession of property"
"If the owner is not known, and no reasonable steps are taken to locate the rightful owner, the 'finder' may still be liable for either dishonest misappropriation of property or fraudulent possession of property," James explained.
Under Section 403 of the Penal Code, the offence of criminal misappropriation of property - if the person who picked up the notes knows who they belong to - carries a maximum jail term of two years and/or a fine.
The money is said to have belonged to a moneychanger from Johor Baru who was on his way to meet a client in Orchard Road, Singapore. The 24-year-old, who was riding a motorcycle, did not realise that the bag carrying the money was not zipped.
By the time he got back to the scene, he only managed to retrieve a single RM50 note.
About five minutes after the money flew out of his bag, the moneychanger's father called him to inform him that there are people picking up money on the BKE, and that the money might be his. It is not known how his father knew of the incident.
By the time the moneychanger retraced his route, all that was left for him was RM50. A moneychanger for three years, he did not make a big deal of the incident. He was quoted as saying that it was a good lesson for him.