THIS cabby had just dropped off a passenger near Aljunied MRT station on Sims Avenue and had moved on a few metres when two men suddenly jumped in front.
One was plump and the other thin, but cabby Francis Lim noticed something else - they were being chased by a group of half a dozen men.
Said Mr Lim: 'I had to brake to avoid hitting the two. Before I could react, they hopped into my car.
'I heard those men chasing them shouting, 'Pa chioh! Pa chioh (robbery in Hokkien)!'
The plump man ordered him: 'Go! Go!'
But Mr Lim said he refused to drive.
The 50-year-old part-time cabby pulled up the car's handbrake.
'By then those men had already surrounded my car,' he added.
Thanks to his help, the suspects were nabbed.
MORNING ROBBERY
The police said they had received a call about a robbery at a hotel on Geylang Lorong 25A at 5.30am yesterday.
Two men in their late 30s were arrested with the assistance of some passers-by.
The two robbers had hopped into the back seat of Mr Lim's Comfort taxi outside Lorong 27.
'The plump one kept shouting 'Don't care about them! Go! Go!' Mr Lim recalled.
'I told him 'How to drive? You want me to knock them down?'
The two suspects in police custody.
The cabby said the robbers appeared frightened and spoke to each other in Hokkien.
This went on for about 15 minutes.
Mr Lim, however, said he was calm. He even wound down his window to talk to the men who were surrounding his car.
Mr Lim said: 'One of them told me not to drive off but to wait for the police to come.
'I turned around and saw that the plump man was also speaking to the police!
'He told the police that he was being chased by a group of men. He said that those men were armed with weapons and were going to hammer him to death!
'He was pleading with the police to send officers down to save him.
'I thought that sounded quite funny when they are the ones who were suspected to be robbers.
'Those men standing outside my car had only brooms and umbrellas, not knives or weapons that he was talking about.'
Mr Lim recalled that the plump man had a beer bottle in one hand when he was running towards his car.
He said that after calling the police, the two robbers started discussing what they should tell the police later.
'They agreed that they would tell the police that two prostitutes had agreed on a price before proceeding to a hotel.
'But they changed their mind and disagreed on the price when they reached the hotel,' Mr Lim recalled.
'They spoke to each other in Hokkien and constantly told me to drive off. I told them I couldn't when there are so many men in front of my car. They told me to reverse my car. But I didn't.'
When the police arrived, Mr Lim got out of his taxi.
The two victims being escorted by an officer.
He said: 'The police asked me if the men were armed. I told them that I only saw one of them holding a beer bottle. I didn't notice any knife.
'The two men then surrendered themselves to the police.
'After they got out of my taxi, I saw that there were actually four beer bottles on the back seat. Two of the bottles were broken.'
A passer-by who had witnessed the chase told Shin Min Daily News that one of the men was armed with a knife and had injured another passer-by during the chase.
Another witness was quoted as saying that the other man was holding on to a woman's handbag. It was apparently taken from the prostitutes.
Police spokesman Danny Tan said two victims and a passer-by were taken to Changi General Hospital with facial and arm injuries.
As for Mr Lim, he had done exactly what he is not supposed to do - decline to take passengers to their destination.
But instead of being reprimanded, he will receive a reward.
Ms Tammy Tan, group corporate communications officer of ComfortDelGro, told The New Paper: 'We are very proud of Francis Lim. Such public-spiritedness is indeed worth applauding.
'We are, however, aware that such situations can be very dangerous and remind all our cabbies to exercise care and caution.'
