Asia-Pacific News

Thief tracked down through his sweaty shoe

Dec 28, 2007, 0:07 GMT

Singapore - A thief was sentenced to 15 months in a Singapore jail for grabbing a woman's purse after police tracked him down through his sweaty shoe, a news report said on Friday. Mohamed Ali Abdul Ghani, 35, fled in a hurry after snatching the woman's purse in August last year, leaving the shoe behind. Police had the sweat tested and obtained Ali's DNA profile, The Straits Times said, but had to wait more than a year before they could find him. Ali had been arrested for another theft, convicted and jailed for 10 weeks in July. He had to submit a body sample to be included in a national DNA database. A district court heard on Thursday how the profile matched the one obtained from the shoe. Ali, who had been released from prison, was arrested again on December 8. He admitted taking the purse from the 25-year-old woman and making off with 25 Singapore dollars (17 US dollars). In trying to outrun a pursuing bystander by a housing block, Ali dropped the shoe. Pleading for leniency, he convinced the court to backdate his new term to December 8, the day he was arrested. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Thief tracked down through his sweaty shoe

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