Man jailed for role in transnational stolen car syndicate
A transnational criminal syndicate smuggled at least 55 stolen Malaysian-registered vehicles from Malaysia into Singapore over three years.
The vehicles were then sold and exported overseas.
Freddy Augustus Anak Juary, 37, was yesterday jailed 30 months for his role in the plot.
The Malaysian was offered a job in 2014 to drive the vehicles into Singapore.
He would be paid RM200 to RM250 (S$65 to S$82) in cash for each trip.
Freddy would receive calls a day before the jobs and would pick up the stolen vehicles from different locations in Malaysia.
The car doors would be unlocked, and the keys were usually concealed somewhere in the vehicle.
From December 2015 to October last year, he would drive the vehicles into Singapore.
He drove the cars to 7 Fan Yoong Road in the Boon Lay area, where a shipping and logistics company is located.
REMOVE LICENCE PLATES
But in October last year, he was told to go to 17 Sungei Kadut Street 3, where a used-car dealer is, and to remove the registration plates of the vehicles.
He did so, breaking the plates and discarding them, even though he noticed the number plates on some of the vehicles were the same.
After each trip, he would take a bus back to Johor Baru.
The syndicate was busted when the police, acting on information received, arrested Freddy on Oct 27 last year at the Woodlands Checkpoint as he was entering Singapore.
Investigations revealed the stolen cars were exported to other countries, and so far only three have been recovered.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheng Yuxi said Freddy had been integral to the sophisticated transnational syndicate that was difficult to detect.
"He committed the offences over three years. It wasn't a moment of folly," she said.
Freddy was convicted on 10 charges of abetting in the scheme to make away with the stolen cars.
He was sentenced to 10 months' jail on each charge, with three of the charges to run consecutively.
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