SINGAPORE: A member of a China syndicate who flew into Singapore solely to commit crime scaled a wall in an upmarket estate in the Upper Thomson area and made off with jewellery worth S$570,100.
Luo Changchang, 44, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ jail on Friday (Jul 25) for one count of housebreaking to commit theft at the Windsor Park property.
His accomplice, 39-year-old Chinese national Long Zhihua, is at large, having absconded after being released on bail. His bailor and another man who helped him obtain bail have been charged.
The court heard that Luo arrived in Singapore from Shenzhen, China, on Jun 21, 2024, with a ticket meant for him to return to China eight days later.
He stayed in a hotel in Geylang Road with Long, who had arrived a few days earlier and paid for the room.
The pair are from a criminal syndicate from Guangxi and came to Singapore to steal from homes, the court heard.
At least five other Chinese nationals from the same syndicate had arrived in Singapore around June 2024 for similar offences.
On Jun 21, 2024, Luo and Long went to the residential estate at Windsor Park Road to see which houses they could target.
Seeing that there were no lights on at the victim’s house, they scaled the wall and trespassed into the property at about 7.40pm.
The pair looked through the drawers, placing jewellery in a plastic bag and damaging a door at the entrance.
About half an hour later, they left the house by climbing back out, taking S$570,000 worth of jewellery with them.
They remained in the estate searching for other houses to target and left only at about 9.45pm.
The victim returned to her bedroom about two hours later and found that her jewellery, which she kept on a tray on top of a piano, was missing.
She discovered more valuables missing and called the police.
The police used closed-circuit television footage from houses in the estate to track down Luo and Long. They were arrested on Jun 26, 2024.
The police recovered some jewellery from the pair’s hotel room, but valuables worth S$390,200 remain missing. Luo did not provide the police with information on the jewellery that was unaccounted for.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh sought five-and-a-half to six years’ jail for Luo.
He said only S$179,900 worth of property was recovered. Luo was also part of a criminal syndicate, an established aggravating factor. He also committed the offence under the cover of darkness.
“There are no reported precedents of similar severity,” said Mr Koh, saying recent housebreaking cases involve property of a substantially lower value.
He cited the “closest case” of He Xiuwei, which involved about S$118,400 in stolen property.
“We emphasise that the accused was part of a house-breaking syndicate and that the only reason he came to Singapore was to commit housebreaking and theft,” said Mr Koh.
“This is troubling. This court should take this opportunity to send a clear message that we will not tolerate such conduct here. Singapore is not a soft target for such activity.”
For housebreaking to commit theft, Luo could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
