2 Chinese nationals, aged 43 & 50, each get 14 months’ jail for stealing S$300 from Balestier temple's donation box

Two male Chinese nationals were both sentenced to 14 months’ jail each for breaking into a temple in Balestier and stealing S$300 from a donation box.

Liao Yongzhan, 43, and Liao Quanwan, 50, were each charged with two theft-related offences.

Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced on Nov. 3.

Rich country

In court documents seen by Mothership, Yongzhan and Quanwan were friends who knew each other in China and came to Singapore together as part of a tour group.

Investigations revealed that sometime in March 2026, both men decided to come to Singapore to gamble and commit theft, believing Singapore was a “rich country”.

They arrived in Singapore with a tour group and brought items, such as improvised fishing tools made with string and sticky tape.

These tools were designed to descend into box holes and attach to the money inside.

The user would then pull the string up to extract the money attached to the sticky tape.

Temple

On Apr. 2, between 1:15am and 4:30am, Yongzhan and Quanwan entered Burmese Buddhist Temple located at Balestier by climbing over its fences.

After searching the premises, they found the temple’s donation boxes.

The men then used their improvised tools and removed about S$300 from the donation boxes.

While they were doing so, one of the temple’s Buddhist lecturers, who happened to be walking through the temple grounds late at night to get water, saw the men and shouted at them.

Yongzhan and Quanwan quickly ran off, climbed the temple’s fence, and fled the scene.

Flee

After fleeing, both men discarded their improvised tools into a drain and took a taxi to their hotel room.

They packed their bags and travelled straight to Changi Airport to take an earlier flight back to China.

The men spent the money they stole on plane tickets back to China.

No restitution has been made to date.

Arrest

Sometime in August 2026, both men decided to return to Singapore.

They intended to gamble, sightsee and commit another theft in the country.

On Aug. 17, both men boarded a plane from China and landed at Changi Airport, where they were arrested.

Deterrence

The prosecution sought 10 to 14 months’ jail for both men.

They said that the men’s sentences needed to act as a deterrence.

“The sentences imposed in this case must send the unequivocal message that foreigners who target Singapore as a platform for crime, and who prey on places of religious worship, will face the full weight of the law that their odious crime deserves,” the prosecution said.

The prosecution added that the theft was committed at a place of religious worship and was “particularly reprehensible”, and cited a “high degree of planning and premeditation” in their actions.

This was evident as the duo prepared equipment to “consummate their crime”.

“The prosecution respectfully submits that the sentences sought are just, proportionate, and necessary to deter like-minded persons (both local and foreign) from committing such abhorrent misdeeds,” they concluded.