A man who stole about $218,000 worth of welding cable wires from his employer was jailed for 42 months on Friday. Mohamed Sofi Mokri, 36, was a company driver with Nexus Sealand Trading at the time of the thefts from the company's warehouse at Tuas South Street 1. The court heard that he was heavily in debt in May last year when he asked his colleagues, K. Subramaniam Kathiranu KK, 41, and Kannan Sangalam, 44, if they were interested in stealing welding cable wires stored in the warehouse where they worked. He knew that the two were in need of money and could easily steal the items without being detected.

He had liaised with a buyer and told him to collect the cable wires from the warehouse. He admitted to three counts of theft of 316 rolls worth almost $160,000 between last July and September and had two other similar charges considered. He has a previous theft conviction.
The case against the other two employees and the buyer are pending. He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each of the charges.