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Five men, including one Singaporean, 39-year-old Tan Zhixian, have been charged for the robbery of a Chinese national at Jurong Point.
The other four men are Chinese nationals as well. They are Wang Anquan, 32, Zhang Kexi, 31, Zhang Xichao, 28, and Chen Shuo, 22, according to court documents seen by Mothership.
A sixth man involved in the robbery, Ge Teng, has yet to be charged and his nationality is unknown, reported Shin Min Daily News.
Snatched money from victim at Subway
According to Shin Min, the group of men had conspired to rob the 39-year-old victim.
The victim had met them at Subway at Jurong Point on Jan. 17, with the intention of passing money to them.
It is uncertain what exactly occurred between the two parties, but the victim's cash amounting to S$30,200 was subsequently snatched.
A Mothership reader who witnessed the incident shared that he was with his friend when four people near him started arguing.
After the reader went up to the second level of the mall, he saw one person enter Subway, and another person walk away.
The remaining two men then appeared to "trap" the victim inside the store by preventing him from leaving. A video the reader filmed showed a man being pinned on the floor.
One of the men pinning him down then snatches a white package and flees the area, while the second man calmly stands up and walks away.
The man on the floor gets up and screams "Robbery!" The rest of his speech is unintelligible.
Video from Mothership reader
Men assisting with investigations
In response to Mothership's queries, Commander of Jurong Police Division and Assistant Commissioner of Police Shee Tek Tze said:
"Despite the suspects' attempt to evade detection, the Police pursued all available leads to identify and arrest them expeditiously. The footage from Police cameras were instrumental in the solving of the case.
This case exemplifies the relentless commitment from the SPF in pursuing such criminals and bringing them to justice."
Tan committed the crime while out on bail, Shin Min reported. He was previously charged with eight counts of receiving embezzled money and carrying out illegal money remittance services.
All five men have been charged with one count of voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery, and are currently in custody and assisting with police investigations.
If convicted, they can face five to 12 years of imprisonment and caning of not less than 12 strokes.
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