Foreign duo charged with housebreaking; one to plead guilty

One of the two foreign criminals who allegedly burgled landed properties in Singapore this week said in court that he wants to plead guilty.

On Dec 20, Chinese nationals Feng Yunlong, 38, and Zhang Yongxiang, 52, were each handed one charge of house-breaking in order to commit theft.

They are said to have entered a property in Greenleaf View in Holland on Dec 16 at about 9pm by pushing open a sliding window.

According to charge sheets, the duo stole one Cartier Roadster watch valued at $8,800 and a Casio Edifice watch worth $150.

Feng was charged via video-link from Central Police Division. Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Feng said he wants to plead guilty and will not be engaging a lawyer.

A police prosecutor applied for Feng to be remanded for one more week to bring him out for investigations and scene visits.

Feng asked, “So this means I’ll be here for one more week, right?”, to which the interpreter said “yes”.

According to court records, Zhang is currently at Changi General Hospital and will be remanded at the Central Police Division upon his discharge. The court records did not explain why he was in hospital.

The two cases will be heard again on Dec 27.

At a press conference on Dec 19, police said the case at Greenleaf View happened while the owners were away. The victims reported the incident on Dec 18, two days after the burglary.

The two suspects have been linked to another report of housebreaking and theft at a property in Zehnder Road in Buona Vista, which was burgled during the day on Dec 18, said the police.

Police officers identified the two suspects after studying footage from security cameras in the area.

They were traced to a hotel in Joo Chiat and arrested at around 6pm, about six hours after the first police report was made on Dec 18.

The police recovered two watches worth about $8,800 in total, a branded pouch worth about $5,000, about $3,570 in cash and an assortment of jewellery.

According to the police, both landed properties did not have burglar alarms, although the house in Greenleaf View had security cameras that aided police investigations.

The doors and gates of the homes were locked at the time, the police said.

The suspects are believed to have gained access to the properties by scaling the walls and fences and climbing in through the unlocked windows.

The police have stepped up measures to prevent and deter housebreaking and theft at private residential areas since June.

 

These include employing additional police cameras, frequent police patrols and engagement with residents of private residential estates.

The police have not ruled out the possibility that Zhang and Feng are linked to the housebreaking syndicates that were active in Singapore in mid-2024.

It was previously reported that international criminal syndicates had been breaking into landed properties here, stealing some $3.85 million from at least 10 homes from June to August.

The gangs had largely targeted homes in the vicinity of the Rail Corridor and Bukit Timah Road, but at least one house in Windsor Park Road, in the Upper Thomson area, was also burgled.

In relation to those cases, the police arrested three Chinese nationals and sought information on another 14 who had left Singapore.

Those convicted of housebreaking in order to commit theft may be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.