A Singaporean man and his nephew were sentenced on Feb. 13 to seven months' jail, and three months and two weeks' jail respectively, for a failed attempt at snatch theft involving S$40,000.

Tate Lim, 51, and his nephew Ivan Lim, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit attempted snatch theft.

The Straits Times reported that they were working with two other men to snatch S$40,000 worth of cash from Yin Yang, 33, on Dec. 25, 2022.

Agreed to exchange S$40,000 for Chinese yuan

The victim, Yin, had earlier agreed with a man to exchange S$40,000 of his money for Chinese yuan.

The man was only identified as “Cyan” in court documents, according to ST.

A woman identified in court as Wang Mengmeng had separately agreed to transfer Chinese currency into Cyan’s account in exchange for S$40,000 cash.

Yin and Wang were told by Cyan that he could not meet them personally.

They proceeded to meet each other.

This was after Cyan told Yin that Wang was his sister and told Wang that Yin was his friend.

What went awry

Cyan then told Wang to transfer Chinese currency to some bank accounts, none of which belonged to Yin.

Yin did not hand over the cash to Wang, and they reported the matter to Jurong East Neighbourhood Police Centre.

The perpetrators

Tate Lim, who masterminded the snatch theft attempt, learned about the incident and asked his nephew and another man to snatch the S$40,000 from Yin.

He was under the impression that Yin was unfairly withholding the money from Wang.

Muhamad Sahlifi Suleiman, 42, enlisted the help of another man, Amzar Daiyan Abdul Ghafor, promising a S$1,000 payout.

It is not clear how Tate Lim is related to Wang and how he found out about the incident with Cyan.

It is also not revealed in court documents how Sahlifi is related to the Lims.

The snatch theft attempt

The three men received instructions from Tate Lim through the phone.

Ivan Lim and Amzar tailed Yin in a car to a residential area in Bukit Batok, after he left the police post.

After Yin alighted near a block of flats, Amzar continued following him to a lift lobby and hit him in the face while attempting to snatch the money, but failed to do so.

Court documents did not reveal the events following Yin's treatment at a hospital, according to ST.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Huo Jiongrui said the Lims' attempt to commit snatch theft was committed out of a sense of misplaced vigilante justice.

"Nevertheless, such acts of vigilante justice should not be encouraged,” added the DPP.

Lim was offered a S$15,000 bail, while his nephew was offered S$20,000 bail.

Details of the sentences for the Sahlifi and Amzar have not been revealed.

Top photo from Getty Images