Last two suspects in $300,000 robbery in Little India convicted

Posing as officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the robbers targeted two Bangladeshis who were running an illegal remittance business in Little India and made off with cash totalling $300,000.

Yesterday, Principal District Judge Toh Han Li convicted the last two of the five robbers after a trial.

Singaporeans Muhammad Ridzuan Mohammad Yusof, 32, and Thava Kumaran Ramamutty, 37, were both convicted of one count each of gang robbery and housebreaking. The three other men who took part in the robbery - Nor Mohamad Azril Sajali, 29; Shanker Maghalingam, 32; and Juraimi Jupri, 43 - had been dealt with in court earlier.

The two Bangladeshis - Sikder Sujan, 46, and Alamgir Md, 49 - had also been dealt with in court for running an unlicensed remittance business.

In proceedings last year, the court heard that Thava found out that some Bangladeshis were running an illegal remittance business. He met his accomplices in early December 2017 to discuss how they could "take the money" from their victims.

In submissions, the prosecution said that at the time, Sujan and Alamgir collected cash from other Bangladeshis before arranging for the monies to be sent to others in their home country.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Dwayne Lum and Kwang Jia Min said that on Dec 11, 2017, Sujan and Alamgir were in their room on the second floor of a Rowell Road property in Little India when the robbers arrived in a rented car around 3am.

During the trial, Sujan told the court that two of the men entered the room while another two stood outside.

Sujan testified that Thava had claimed that his group was from the CID before telling the occupants of the room to remain still.

The Bangladeshi said Ridzuan later entered the room.

The DPPs added: "As Sujan genuinely believed that they were from the police, he complied with Thava's instructions by handing over his identification documents... Ridzuan then searched the room and recovered cash amounting to $300,000."

The court heard that the robbers then left in a car.

Sujan immediately alerted the authorities after realising that the men were not police officers.

On Dec 17 that year, Shanker unlawfully left Singapore for Malaysia on a motorised boat from Changi.

Thava entered Malaysia 12 days later on a 30-day social visit pass. Malaysian police officers detained the pair in Johor on April 12, 2018.

They were later handed over to the Singapore police.

The DPPs said: "Ridzuan's defence (was)... that he was engaged by Shanker to move a safe box from (the Rowell Road property) to another place... Thava's defence... (was) that he was given a job by a Bangladeshi national known to him as 'Munshir' and the job involved the moving of a safe box from (the property) to a location in MacPherson."

The court heard that Thava had claimed that he was on his phone trying to contact Munshir when Juraimi, Azril and Ridzuan hatched a plan to commit the robbery without his knowledge.

Delivering his verdict yesterday, the judge said: "It was simply not credible that the three robbers would involve two innocents - namely Ridzuan and Thava - who were not clued in or involved in the planning of the robbery and had no inkling that a robbery or anything illegal would be committed."

The cases involving the pair have been adjourned to next month.