SINGAPORE - Four Colombian nationals who came to Singapore to commit housebreaking offences were each jailed for 12 months on Tuesday (Aug 22).

Yuli Caterine Puentes Entralgo, 27, her husband Alvaro Gonzalez Gonzalez, 32, Andres Ordonez Saenz, 41, and Edgar Alberto Sandoval Rivera, 45, pleaded guilty to breaking into the house of Mr Roland Jozef Janssen, 48, at Muswell Hill, Braddell Heights Estate, at about 7.50pm on May 6, 2017.

They arrived in Singapore on May 2 and planned to break into and steal items from houses.

The next day, Yuli rented a Mercedes-Benz car for six days for them to travel around housing estates. They bought items and tools, such as a crowbar, that could be used to break into the targeted units.

Investigation showed that some time after 7pm on May 6, Gonzalez drove the rented car to Muswell Hill where his wife, Ordonez and Sandoval alighted and proceeded to the house. Gonzalez waited in the car.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Marcus Foo said the three scaled the low wall of the house and forced open the sliding door next to the main door of the house.

They ransacked the house but could not find any valuable items.

They fled when they saw a closed-circuit television camera in the premises.

Mr Janssen returned home at about 10pm and found the sliding door had been forced open and his house ransacked. He made a police report.

The four were arrested at Tampines Central the next day before they could leave for Kuala Lumpur by bus.

One charge of housebreaking and theft of $2,000 cash and other items, and another housebreaking charge were considered against each of them.

The prosecutor had sought at least 12 months' jail for each. He highlighted that they were foreigners who came here to commit crime; there was significant planning and attempts taken to avoid suspicion.

They could have been jailed for up to three years and fined for housebreaking by night.