The Escape Plan
Chew Eng Han Escape to Malaysia Foiled
Just nine days before he was due to begin his jail term – Chew was arrested on Wednesday morning for attempting to flee Singapore in a motorised sampan [CNA1].
Chew Eng Han attempt to flee has ended with ridicule and being mocked by the general populace; just because he was caught, the media portrayed an imbecile and the comedy of the escape plan. His lack of success could be attributed to perhaps the lack of time to plan, conscience, resources and contacts to make success getaway.
The intrigue brings me to examine if his escape plan was viable in the first place or was it too haphazard. An escape due to an opportunity appearing suddenly. If so, it likely to fail and perhaps this was what happened.
As a bail bond jumper, the $1 million bail sum to be forfeited is almost a certainty, along with it, the risk of being arrested and extradited to Singapore and face an extended jail term.
Should he escape, he would have been a hero for having balls, foresight and ability to evade authorities. He would have started his life afresh with a new bought identity and remained in a foreign country and no one would be wiser if he never leaves the new country of residence. However this was did not happened as someone within have gotton cold feet and then blew the whistle to the PCG.
Lets take a look at Chew escape plan, as you can see, Pulau Ubin does not lie too far from the coast of Malaysia. With a fish farm in the sea, it would make more sense to use it as a staging pad for its close proximity to Malaysia.
As you recall, Chew's sampan was intercepted at 8.47 am indicating that Chew was already up an early at Changi or was at the fish farm overnight.
When it was time to escape, one of the members started to have cold feet and delayed the execution leading to a daylight departure. The plan was supposed to go to a half way point and to transfer onto another boat or to cross the straits and land on the other side.
Just nine days before he was due to begin his jail term – Chew was arrested on Wednesday morning for attempting to flee Singapore in a motorised sampan [CNA1].
Chew Eng Han attempt to flee has ended with ridicule and being mocked by the general populace; just because he was caught, the media portrayed an imbecile and the comedy of the escape plan. His lack of success could be attributed to perhaps the lack of time to plan, conscience, resources and contacts to make success getaway.
The intrigue brings me to examine if his escape plan was viable in the first place or was it too haphazard. An escape due to an opportunity appearing suddenly. If so, it likely to fail and perhaps this was what happened.
As a bail bond jumper, the $1 million bail sum to be forfeited is almost a certainty, along with it, the risk of being arrested and extradited to Singapore and face an extended jail term.
Should he escape, he would have been a hero for having balls, foresight and ability to evade authorities. He would have started his life afresh with a new bought identity and remained in a foreign country and no one would be wiser if he never leaves the new country of residence. However this was did not happened as someone within have gotton cold feet and then blew the whistle to the PCG.
Lets take a look at Chew escape plan, as you can see, Pulau Ubin does not lie too far from the coast of Malaysia. With a fish farm in the sea, it would make more sense to use it as a staging pad for its close proximity to Malaysia.
As you recall, Chew's sampan was intercepted at 8.47 am indicating that Chew was already up an early at Changi or was at the fish farm overnight.
When it was time to escape, one of the members started to have cold feet and delayed the execution leading to a daylight departure. The plan was supposed to go to a half way point and to transfer onto another boat or to cross the straits and land on the other side.
They considered a night escape, but it was risky even as they had the cover of darkness and perturbed by the fact that coastal patrol will pick up an unlit craft transversing across the straits. The coastal patrol would have located the craft easily and the boatman on his return may not be so lucky while Chew makes a safe getaway.
Chew also did not intend or could not swim along the length of the straits and was afraid of drowning and the fear of getting lost at the far coast.
So he concluded after all things considered, the best choice was to escape in daylight since it was reasonable to be fishing and there were crafts transversing along the straits drawing less suspicion to the craft the purpose of being in the straits. He should not use a superfast craft as it would have caused suspicion and tracing of ownership was easy, so a fast craft was not critical to daylight escape. A "normal" motorised craft would be perfect for the job.
However the plan has gone awry when Malaysian or the Singapore side did not fulfil the bargain, members became anxious and someone during that time decided to end it and called the authorities.
Reference
CNA1, Kamini Devadass, 22 Feb 2018 02:29AM
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/chew-eng-han-city-harvest-church-chc-9979260, : Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/chew-eng-han-city-harvest-church-chc-9979260
Chew also did not intend or could not swim along the length of the straits and was afraid of drowning and the fear of getting lost at the far coast.
So he concluded after all things considered, the best choice was to escape in daylight since it was reasonable to be fishing and there were crafts transversing along the straits drawing less suspicion to the craft the purpose of being in the straits. He should not use a superfast craft as it would have caused suspicion and tracing of ownership was easy, so a fast craft was not critical to daylight escape. A "normal" motorised craft would be perfect for the job.
However the plan has gone awry when Malaysian or the Singapore side did not fulfil the bargain, members became anxious and someone during that time decided to end it and called the authorities.
Reference
CNA1, Kamini Devadass, 22 Feb 2018 02:29AM
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/chew-eng-han-city-harvest-church-chc-9979260, : Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/chew-eng-han-city-harvest-church-chc-9979260
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