Unfortunately for the thieves, the notes were forgeries kept by the emporium management to train staff to detect counterfeit money.

Apart from the counterfeit notes, the thieves did manage to escape with a few packets of coins, although it was not immediately known how much these amounted to.

The break-in was discovered by the emporium's financial officer when she reported for duty at 9am. She then alerted the company's sales manager, Tan Jit Sin, at home.

Tan said the officer found her room in a mess when she opened it.
"She told me that the ceiling in the room was damaged.

"On further inspection, she found a packet with various denominations of fake notes missing together with a few packets of coins. When I arrived at the office, I immediately called the police."

Tan said the forgeries were received from customers over the years and he had kept them to train cashiers on how to detect counterfeits.