THE loot that an ex-employee of luxury watch retailer Cortina was supposed to have made off with is worth more than $13 million in the marketplace.
Jerry Ee, 35, who is wanted by police for the Christmas Day heist at Cortina’s Raffles City store, was picky about the watches he allegedly stole.
He took 386 time pieces from six designer brands – Audemars Piguet, Girard Perregaux, Panerai, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Rolex – along with 194 accompanying guarantee cards.
Their exact worth: $13,225,383.
Ee also allegedly stole cash amounting to $27,137 from a store safe.
With that much money and being a frequent visitor to Thailand, would it be that difficult to change identity and disappear off Interpol’s radar screens forever? So why did Jerry Ee surrender himself at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok?
Let’s backtrack and look at some background info. Some years ago, a Singaporean friend of mine, Donald (not his real name) opened a pub in Bangkok. His Thai partner was a friend he had known for many years. With excellent management skills and good PR, Donald saw the business blossom. With encouragement from his Thai wife, Donald took loans in Singapore to expand the business in Thailand. The ex-army officer had never seen so much money coming so effortlessly in his life.
Donald probably had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, but his nightmare started one day when he visited one of his nightclubs and found that it wasn’t his anymore. His Thai partner had sold all their jointly owned businesses and disappeared. Donald sought the help of everyone he knew in Thailand. He got plenty of reassurances but no real help. Even with private investigators and mercenary policemen, he found no trace of his ex-partner. An expert conjectured that the cunning fellow had left Thailand using a fake passport.
With the right lobangs, it’s not just easy to sneak out of Thailand without anyone knowing. It’s also easy for criminals to retire there after their last big case. For centuries, Thailand has been a favourite destination for retiring criminals or ex-convicts from Taiwan and Hongkong. With the size of France or the state of Texas in the US, Thailand is big enough for them to hide. Most importantly, I believe, is the ease of settling in as long as you have some money and are very generous with it. Thais judge people from first impressions, the way they dress, the way they talk and how generous they are with their money. Being “jai dee” (good hearted) and being “jai dee” (generous) are exactly the same words. Such “simplicity” gives the soft-spoken, gentlemanly and philanthropic criminal a non-hostile, forgiving retreat which can be turned into a new home whenever necessary.
Back to Jerry Ee. Our “hero” landed at Changi Airport at about 7.45pm today on a scheduled Singapore Airlines flight from Bangkok. Ee was then taken to the Police Cantonment Complex at about 8.45pm where he appeared to shy away from the over 20 reporters and cameramen who waited for him at the entrance. Why?
Jerry escaped to Bangkok with 386 watches. With a loot that size, he was obviously planning to settle down in Thailand like many other criminals before him. Out of the 386 watches he stole, Jerry surrendered with 200. After selling almost 200 watches, he should have enough money to buy himself fake documents and “vanish” like Donald’s ex-partner did. Not too long ago, even poor foreign musicians in Thailand could afford to pay a policeman to stamp their passports for exit and re-entry every month. What could have made Jerry surrender given that it’s not too difficult to get away with it? He couldn’t have just missed Singapore food or found Bangkok’s traffic overwhelming. He couldn’t be so afraid of being drenched during the upcoming Songkran festival. After all, friends and colleagues testified that Thailand is Jerry’s favourite travel destination. What was it that caused Jerry to surrender to the Singapore Embassy, knowing very well that he will be in for a long jail term?
I won’t speculate on the details, but I’m pretty sure that Jerry has chosen imprisonment over a far less desirable consequence, probably death. Without previous criminal records and nowhere near retirement age, I’m also pretty sure that Jerry pull this big one off to fulfil some big dreams he had in Thailand. Whoever or whatever made him commit the crime probably played him out.
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