Man in gang that robbed $300k jailed for 10 years
In three months, a man committed a string of offences, including being part of a gang that escaped with $300,000 in a robbery in December 2017.
After his arrest for the robbery in January 2018, he continued his crime spree while out on bail.
Yesterday, Nor Mohamad Azril Sajali, 29, was jailed for 10 years and given 22 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to offences including gang robbery, assault with a weapon and rioting.
On Dec 11, Azril and several accomplices targeted four Bangladeshis who were conducting an illegal remittance scheme.
Posing as police officers, Azril and his three co-accused - Juraimi Jupri, 43; Muhammad Ridzuan Mohammad Yusof, 31; and Thava Kumuran Ramamutty, 35, confronted their victims at their home in Rowell Road in Little India.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kwang Jia Min told District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim that they demanded to check the victims' identification documents.
"Each of the victims handed over their identification documents for inspection and felt afraid," DPP Kwang added.
Thava and Ridzuan searched the room and found $300,000 in cash.
They then fled with the loot in a rented car driven by another co-accused, Shanker Maghalingam, 32.
Azril, who received $5,000 for his role in the heist, was arrested on Jan 8 after the police conducted several islandwide operations.
He was later released on bail.
Shanker and Thava fled to Malaysia but were arrested and brought back to Singapore.
Only $5,500 of the $300,000 was recovered.
Five days after the robbery, Azril was involved in a gang fight that resulted in a fatal road accident.
After he punched a member of another gang in club Baliza at Raffles Boulevard, he and his friends drove around in a convoy to search for the other gang.
When they spotted his earlier victim with another man and a woman in a car, they gave chase as the other car tried to flee.
The victims were driving along Cavenagh Road when they saw police officers and wanted to seek help.
But the driver lost control and the car crashed into the rear gate of the Istana.
Two of them died from their injuries and the third sustained facial and rib fractures.
Two months after the accident, Azril was arrested again after he was involved in a slashing incident in Ang Mo Kio.
He is the first of the five involved in the gang robbery to be convicted.
The cases of his co-accused are pending.
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