News
Man, 43, an Indian national & ex-technician at Home Team range, steals over 164kg of spent bullet heads, gets 10 months' jail
He stole 10 bags in total and managed to sell off nine of them.
January 30, 2026, 05:56 PM
A 43-year-old man, who worked as a technician at the Home Team Tactical Centre, was sentenced to 10 months' jail on Jan. 29, 2026 for stealing 10 bags of spent bullet heads from the centre's shooting range.
Govindarajan Arunachalam, an Indian national, enlisted two migrant workers to help sell off nine bags weighing over 164kg.
The two workers, Periyasamy Ramaiya, 28, and Rajendran Veerakumar, 30, both also Indian nationals, each got six months' jail for assisting the man in selling the stolen items.
Govindarajan faced one charge of theft and one charge of violating the Miscellaneous (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, and admitted to one of them.
The other charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Sold spent bullets to recycler
According to Shin Min Daily News, Govindarajan got the idea to sell spent bullet heads as scrap metal after seeing 40 to 50 bags of them placed at a shed at the Home Team range in Mandai in December 2024.
He placed nine bags, weighing about 164kg, into a receptacle and covered it with a blue cloth.
He then waited for an opportune time to steal the spent bullet heads.
Got others to help
About two months later on Feb. 23, 2025, the man enlisted the help of a migrant worker to bring four of those bags to Admiralty on the worker's lorry.
There, he sold them off to a recycler and paid the worker S$20 to S$30.
On Mar. 16 that same year, the man sold the remaining five bags of spent bullets to a recycler and paid another migrant worker about S$50 for his help.
Turned down
On Jul. 27, the man stole another bag of spent bullet heads.
Again, he attempted to sell them as scrap metal to another recycling company.
However, the company told the man that he needed to produce a certifying document before they would take the spent bullet heads.
The company turned the man away.
Govindarajan panicked and attempted to replace the spent bullets at the shooting range.
A security supervisor at the industrial complex, which housed the recycling company, noticed an unattended bag of spent bullet heads and filed a police report on Jul. 26.
This led to the man's arrest on Jul. 28, 2025.
Top image via Canva
