2 men, 38 & 44, travel to S'pore to steal from landed property, S$390,200 of jewellery remains missing

Part of a crime syndicate targeting landed properties in Singapore, two men flew in from China in mid-June, intending to escape the country on Jun. 29.

38-year-old Long Zhihua and 44-year-old Luo Changchang broke into a landed property along Windsor Park Road on Jun. 21 evening and got away with S$570,100 in jewellery belonging to a 53-year-old woman.

The police managed to track them down on Jun. 26 and, along with their arrest, recovered part of their ill-gotten gains in their Geylang hotel room.

However, S$390,200 in jewellery remains missing, and they refuse to reveal what happened to them.

Wandered estate to look for houses to break into

Both men pleaded guilty to one count each of housebreaking on Dec. 17.

According to court documents, Long arrived in Singapore first on Jun. 19 and booked a hotel room in Geylang.

Luo flew in two days later and met up with Long in his hotel room.

Later that evening, the pair went to the residential estate at Windsor Park Road.

They wandered around the estate with a flashlight to find houses to break into.

The pair spotted a house without lights at around 7:40pm and decided to break into it.

Took off with S$570,100 in jewellery

Unbeknownst to them, the property had two buildings within the same premises, and the victim's elderly mother and two helpers were in the other building.

However, they remained undetected as they climbed over the premises' wall and broke into the unlit building by prying open the door.

They used their torchlight to find their way around in the dark as they ransacked the drawers and wardrobe in the victim's bedroom.

After finding boxes of jewellery in the drawers, Long removed the drawers with jewellery and handed them to Luo, who found a white plastic bag in the room to hold the jewellery.

They then decided to return the drawers and empty boxes to where they were to avoid detection.

Long opened the wardrobe and looked through the drawers,

Once they were done searching the room for more jewellery, they left the house the way they came from with the white plastic bag filled with loot.

They continued to wander around the estate to look for more houses to break into before returning to their hotel room at about 9:43pm.

The value of the jewellery they had left with was said to be worth S$570,100.

Refuse to say where missing jewellery

The victim came home at about 11:48pm that day.

She soon discovered that some of the jewellery she had placed on top of a piano in her room was missing.

Shen then realised that all her jewellery boxes were empty and called the police.

During the arrest, the police discovered jewellery and cash not belonging to the victim in their hotel room.

S$390,200 in jewellery belonging to the victim was not recovered.

However, the duo refused to disclose where the unknown valuables came from, what happened to the victim's other jewellery and complete details of how they broke into the victim's house.

They also lied about their relationship with each other and their purpose in coming to Singapore.

Other than the missing jewellery, the victim also suffered property damage, having to engage contractors to replace the door locks to her home and repair the door the accused persons had damaged.

She also installed a CCTV system and put up a warning sign on the fencing, as well as a light, to prevent and deter would-be offenders from entering her home in the future.

Prosecution asks for more than five-and-a-half years' jail each

She spent a total of S$1,295.

The prosecutor asked for a sentence of between five-and-a-half years and six years for Luo and more for Long, citing the victim's losses of over S$390,000, the syndicated nature of the crime and their refusal to full cooperation.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 16.

Each man could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined for housebreaking.

Top photo from Google Maps