Small men are hard men.

And one such small hard man is Lim Ban Lim -- who was at one point, before he was gunned down by the police in 1972, the most wanted gunman in Singapore and Malaysia.

14-year crime spree

From 1958 to 1972, Lim went on a crime spree and killed police officers in Singapore and Johor Bahru.

In total, he made off with at least $2.5 million.

In today's value, that would be worth a whooping S$9.3 million.

Lim Ban who?

Lim Ban Lim was a Hokkien.

He was diminutive and stood at only 1.65m tall.

Described to be of medium build, his short stature gave rise to one of his aliases, "Ah Oei", which translate to "shorty" in Hokkien.

He was also known by other names: Tau Hong Lim, Seow Lim, Ah Seow, Suay Kia, and Oei Kia.

"Oei Kia" actually means "short kid".

Lim reportedly married his childhood sweetheart when he was 16, and had three daughters and two sons.

Despite being well respected in gang circles, Lim was said to only trust his second-in-command, Chua Ah Kow.

String of robberies and fights

Despite his small stature, the heists pulled off by Lim were anything but.

In 1965, the Gi Ho secret society member robbed the printing department of the Straits Times at Anson Road, making off with $30,000.

One year later, he struck again, this time at the First National City Bank, escaping with $156,000.

Lim was also notorious up north.

In 1968, he swiped $450,000 from the Treasury in Johor Bahru.

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Eluding capture

Lim was said to escape Singapore after each crime and sought refuge in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Just like a movie con-man, Lim was a master of disguise.

He even dressed up as a woman to avoid detection, and even went as far as undergoing plastic surgery.

Lim was also ambidextrous and could shoot with both hands.

His defiance of the authorities was also legendary.

"You will never catch me. When you are about to arrest me, I will surely engage you in a gun fight. I will use the last bullet to end my life, so you can only collect my body."

-Lim Ban Lim to head of Criminal Investigation Department (CID)

Margaret Drive gunfight

Wanted for the robberies and for the killing of a police officer by executing him at point-blank range, the Singapore police offered a $5,000 bounty for Lim's arrest in 1968.

They doubled that amout to $10,000 in 1969.

By 1972, the price had increased to $17,000.

On November 24, acting on a tip-off, the police ambushed Lim and his second-in-command, Chua Ah Kow, at a pasar malam at Margaret Drive.

A heavy gunfight ensued between the policemen and gunmen and culminated in the death of Lim Ban Lim.

He was shot three times by the police. His lieutenant, Chua, escaped but was caught in another gunfight three weeks later.

Chua shot himself rather than be arrested.

Changing gun laws

Lim's case was just one of many high profile shooting cases in the early 1970s.

Later that year in 1972, another high profile shooting played out between the Hassan brothers -- Abdul Wahab Hassan and Mustapha Hassan -- and the police at a cemetery along Victoria Street.

Both killed themselves after being cornered by the police.

These shooting cases served to propel the authorities to restrict the possession and use of firearms, leading to Singapore's famously strict gun laws.

In November 1973, Singapore passed the Arms Offences Act, which prevented one from possessing, using, or even trying to use a gun to commit an offence.

The penalty for possessing or carrying a piece of firearm is a jail term and caning. Using a firearm to commit an offence is punishable by death.

Top image via NewspaperSG