SINGAPORE – A court in Singapore has sentenced three Chileans to jail for using criminal force and stealing cash from two men, local media reported on Monday.
Two of them – Arancibia Sanchez Marcelo Atilio, 40, and his friend, Cifuentes Villagran Manuel Jesus, 38, were each sentenced to 12 months’ jail for two counts of theft and one of using criminal force. Both have a few similar convictions back home.
Marcelo’s uncle, 69-year-old Arancibia Pineda Julio Adolfo, represented by Mr Amarjit Singh Sidhu, was given eight months’ jail for the same offences. All three pleaded guilty, the Straits Times reported.
The trio next tailed another man from a moneychanger, got up the bus with him and stole HK$11,000 (S$1,904) and a $900 cheque from him as the victim was about to alight.
They left for Malaysia by coach the same day and were arrested a week later, on Sept 18, at Woodlands checkpoint.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Star Chen Xinhui said the three came to Singapore on Sept 8 with the intention of committing thefts from the onset as they thought Singaporeans may be an easy target.
On Sept 11, they were near Raffles Place looking for potential targets when they saw Liu Hock Kian, 53, emerging from OCBC building and putting cash into his leather bag which had a faulty zipper.
They followed him to Upper Pickering Street, just outside Parkroyal on Pickering.
Marcelo moved forward and flicked some chocolate sauce on the back of Mr. Liu’s T-shirt before walking away. His two accomplices gave some tissue paper to the victim ostensibly to clean his T-shirt. Once the victim was distracted, they swiped $1,200 from his shoulder bag.
The trio next tailed another man from a moneychanger, Mah Yee Wei, 36, got up the bus with him and stole HK$11,000 (S$1,904) and a $900 cheque from him as the victim was about to alight.
They left for Malaysia by coach the same day and were arrested a week later, on Sept 18, at Woodlands checkpoint.
Both incidents were captured by closed-circuit TV cameras and the trio were identified. An assortment of various currencies amounting to $2,331 were found when they were arrested.
