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A Singaporean man was handed a 30-week jail sentence and a S$2,500 fine for several driving-related offences as well as theft, reported Today.

His crime? On July 12, 2019, car workshop owner Alvin Ng Boon Kim stole two Dyson vacuum cleaners from the Robinsons department store at The Heeren and escaped in a BMW car he assembled with different components.

At that time, Ng, 44, was serving a four-year driving ban from December 2018.

The theft

On July 12, 2019, Ng saw two Dyson Absolut V11 vacuum cleaner display sets at Robinsons at The Heeren. He swiped them and fled in his car.

While Ng later told the authorities that he wanted to give one set to his girlfriend and sell the other, that did not happen. He threw one down a rubbish chute and left the other at his friend's house.

He was apprehended when he returned to the department store six days later. He also admitted that he was the same Chinese male caught on CCTV footage taking the vacuum cleaners, reported Today.

The assembled car

Ng's getaway car was assembled from components taken from other cars:

Its chassis (frame) came from a BMW car de-registered in May 2018. Ng had taken this BMW from a friend who could not service his loan repayments.

The car's registration number belonged to a Mercedes-Benz. This registration number was given to him by a friend.

That wasn't the only time Ng put together a car using components from different vehicles.

Separately, in court on Tuesday (May 10), Ng admitted to owning another BMW with an in-vehicle unit (IU) that came from another vehicle, reported Today.

This BMW was discovered by a Land Transport Authority (LTA) enforcement officer in 2015 after they responded to a tip-off about two BMW cars bearing identical number plates in an Upper East Coast condominium. Ng admitted that he used his customer's number plate on his car to evade detection.

Charges

On May 10, 2022, Ng pleaded guilty to one charge of each of the following:

• Theft
• Displaying a false number plate on a vehicle
• Exhibiting a false identification mark on an unregistered car
• Keeping an unregistered vehicle
• Driving while under a disqualification order.

Ng will begin serving his sentence on May 24. Upon his release from prison, he will be disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for 10 years.

Top image credit: Roberto Nickson on Unsplash  

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