The plane had landed in Singapore and the crew were preparing to disembark passengers when a few passengers claimed they had lost money from their carry-on bags.

A 62-year-old South African woman, Graham Valmai Hope, sat in seat 11B, next to Zhang, who was in 11C.

During the flight, Hope saw Zhang walk down the aisle and take a grey bag from the overhead compartment above seat 7E.

Zhang returned to his seat with the bag, removed something from it and placed it in his jacket, before returning the bag.

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When the plane landed, Hope noticed that it was a 29-year-old Korean man who retrieved the grey bag Zhang had been rummaging in earlier.

Hope told the Korean man to check the contents of his bag, and the man confirmed that he had lost an envelope containing cash of US$1,000 and S$930 (US$700).

Hope told the victim that it was Zhang who had taken it. At this point, Zhang was not in his seat but was standing along the aisle, waiting to disembark.

Another man, 60-year-old Singaporean Richard Khoo Hye Koon, overheard the conversation and saw Zhang trying to rush to exit.

Khoo stopped Zhang from leaving and saw that Zhang had thrown an envelope on seat 7D.

The victim then took the envelope and counted the cash inside it – it tallied with the amount of money he had lost.

Hearing this commotion, two other passengers also checked their bags and realised the cash was also missing.

One of them lost S$50 and 5.16 million Vietnamese dong (US$210). This amount had previously been reported to be S$50 and 510 million Vietnamese dong based on Zhang’s charge sheet at the time.

The charge sheet has since been amended to reflect the lower value.

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The third victim had lost S$600 and 3 million Vietnamese dong.

Another passenger said Zhang had thrown more cash on the floor of the aircraft. He had done this to get rid of evidence, the court heard.

The plane captain requested police help and Zhang was arrested. Despite eyewitnesses seeing what he had done, he denied the offences at first.

All the cash belonging to the three victims was recovered.

Deputy Public Prosecutor R Arvindren sought six to nine months’ jail, saying the sentence imposed must send “an unstinting message to both the accused and other foreigners that Singapore will not tolerate foreigners boarding Singapore-bound flights to commit crimes”.

He cited a case from 2013, when there was a spate of offences committed by Chinese nationals targeting Singapore-controlled aircraft.

According to the judge at the time, the starting point for the jail term regardless of the amount stolen was nine months, said Arvindren.

However, he accepted that this was likely for a scenario where the accused claimed trial and gave an “appropriate sentencing discount” for the term he sought for Zhang.

Arvindren said passengers on a plane cannot be monitoring their belongings at all times. Many passengers sleep on flights or do their own activities, and it “cannot be incumbent on them to be watching their own baggage all the time to ensure nobody else takes them”, said the prosecutor.

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Zhang was remanded. He pleaded for leniency for a lighter sentence via a Mandarin interpreter, saying he was remorseful and had returned all the money to the victims.

The judge said these offences are easy to commit but difficult to detect.

“In this case, the accused had actually taken monies, and the only reason why he was not successful in [completing the theft] was because of the vigilance of others, and this is not something that cannot be credited to him,” said District Judge Ong Luan Tze.

Upon hearing the sentence interpreted to him in Mandarin, Zhang exclaimed in Mandarin: “It’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”

The judge responded that this was her decision and that he can choose what to do next, referring to the possibility of an appeal.

For theft, an offender can be jailed up to three years, fined, or both.