Six men plead guilty to armed robbery involving S$4.9 million in Singapore
In Singapore, six Malaysian nationals pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including armed gang robbery at a house in the King Albert Park area. According to Channel NewsAsia, cash, valuables and cryptocurrency worth a total of S$4.9 million, or about US$3.9 million, were stolen during the attack in April 2024.
Wong Chee Shan, Goh Boon Tong, Mohd Hamidon Ahmed, Karthik Palaniappan, Mohd Hashim Ismail and Muhammad Taufik Ahmad Fauzi pleaded guilty. Another participant in the robbery remains at large: court documents state that he probably left Malaysia and travelled to Thailand.
Preparation for the robbery
According to court documents, Wong and Goh learned about regular high-stakes poker games at the house. They established that the gate and the main wooden door were left unlocked during the games. In March 2024, Wong suggested robbing the house, and Goh recruited Hamidon, who was to enlist people to intimidate and restrain the victims.
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On the evening of April 17, 2024, Hamidon and his team arrived in Singapore from Malaysia. At a meeting in a car park in the Geylang area, they were shown photographs of the house and were told the entry route. The attackers prepared black clothing, gloves, ski masks, adhesive tape and cable ties; Hamidon's vehicle also contained machetes and baseball bats.
Cash and cryptocurrency
On the night of April 18, seven men entered the house, where a poker game was underway. Present were the female homeowner, a Chinese national, her husband, a Korean card dealer and a masseuse. The attackers tied up the victims and taped their mouths shut before searching for valuables. Wong and Goh checked cryptocurrency apps on the homeowner's phone and transferred assets to a wallet they controlled. The group also took money from a safe in the living room and searched the bedroom.
After the robbery, the participants travelled to Malaysia in two cars through different border checkpoints. The victims managed to free themselves and call the police; they sustained minor injuries from being tied up. Singapore police recovered about S$1.69 million of the stolen property, while about S$3.21 million was lost. According to the prosecution's assessment, this was one of Singapore's highest-value robberies in nominal terms. The prosecution sought sentences for the six defendants ranging from seven years and eight months to 13 years and one month in prison, as well as 24 strokes of the cane. At the time the source was published, the sentence had not yet been handed down.
