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First of five men in Dunlop gang robbery found guilty
SINGAPORE: One of five men accused of the gang robbery at Dunlop Street has been found guilty. Mohammad Ansari Abdul Hussain admitted to nine charges, including committing gang robbery.
The 34-year-old, with four others, impersonated police officers and robbed three victims of some S$1.3 million. The incident happened in September 2012.
Mohammad Ansari is the first of five men, aged between 30 and 35, to plead guilty to what has been dubbed the Dunlop gang robbery. The other four -- Mohammad Faizal Ajmalhan, 30; Magesan Ramasamy, 34; Arunachalam Laksmanan, 34; and Chinnaya Antony Samy, 35 -- are claiming trial.
Three of the five men, including Mohammad Ansari, donned police uniforms and posed as officers. They allegedly then told the three victims separately as they robbed them one by one, that they were conducting a search at the victims' lodging in Dunlop Street.
The three foreign businessmen who stayed at the same place fell for the ploy and were restrained with cable ties.
In submissions, prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani said there were several aggravating factors.
He pointed out that there was a vast amount of money involved in this case and that Mohammad Ansari had not only posed as a police officer, but had provided the uniforms as he was a police reservist.
Mr Vaswani said the accused went to great lengths to ensure that the robbery took place smoothly and that the accused played an active role.
The prosecutor added that more than 40 per cent of the money was not recovered and asked for the court to impose a minimum sentence of eight years' jail.
However, defence lawyer Selva Naidu said the actions of his client was the "least serious" of the definition of robbery, which included causing hurt or death. When asked about Mohammad Ansari's impersonation as a police officer, Mr Naidu said the move was meant to deceive the victims and not intimidate them.
The lawyer added that while more than S$600,000 was found in Mohammad Ansari's possession, his client's share of the proceeds was actually S$250,000.
Mr Naidu said his client would be called as a prosecution witness and asked the court for leniency.
Sentencing has been fixed on September 4.
If convicted, the accused faces between five and 20 years jail for gang robbery. He will also be caned at least 12 times. - CNA/ac
Elena Chong
The Straits Times
Saturday, Sep 07, 2013
A taxi driver who posed as a policeman and tied up three Indian nationals at a lodging house in Little India to rob them of more than $1 million was sentenced to eight years' jail and the minimum 12 strokes on Wednesday. Mohammad Ansari Abdul Hussain, 34, was the first in a gang of five to be convicted of last September's brazen robbery.
He pleaded guilty last month to the gang robbery of $917,657 from Mr Gulam Hussain Jalaludeen, 32, and impersonating a public servant. Seven other charges, including the robbery of a moneychanger at Beach Road, were considered during his sentencing.
The total amount taken was $1.3 million, of which $899,320 has been recovered. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani told the court that Ansari and his friend, Magesan Ramasamy, 34, were facing financial problems.
During one of their meetings last year, they decided to rob moneychangers or those in the remittance business to solve their money problems.
The plan was for Ansari , Magesan and Mohamed Faizal Ajmalhan, 30, to wear police uniforms, while Arunachalam Lakshmanan, 34, and Chinnaya Antony Samy, 35, positioned themselves outside the two-storey lodging house at Dunlop Street.
The uniforms were provided by Ansari, a police reservist. On the morning of Sept 10, the three fake policemen forced their way into the premises, claiming they were conducting a check.
They went from room to room tying up the occupants with cable ties and taking $286,044, $917,657 and $70,000 from the three Indian nationals there. The robbers even left with a cash counting machine.
The trio escaped in a car with stolen number plates and drove to a multi-storey carpark in Upper Boon Keng Road, where they changed out of their police uniforms.
Then they went to Ansari's flat and divided the loot. Pressing for a stiff sentence. DPP Vaswani said the case was rife with aggravating factors, including how the gang carefully planned the robbery. He said Ansari "played an active role in this lawlessness".
District Judge Lim Keng Yeow agreed, noting the meticulous preparations and the way the gang carefully picked their victims. "The entire operation was designed and executed with a high level of sophistication and apparent professionalism far unlike a simple street gang robbery offence committed on the spur of the moment by immature novices," he said.
The fact that the accused pretended to be police officers was also highlighted as a critical aggravating factor by the judge. The cases against Ansari's four accomplices are pending.
The maximum penalty for gang robbery is 20 years' jail and caning. For falsely impersonating a public servant, the maximum punishment is two years' jail and a fine.
