The mastermind behind the armed robbery of a cryptocurrency practitioner in Singapore was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison and received 24 lashes

According to the United Morning News, seven Malaysian gangsters targeted players attending a poker game, breaking into a luxury private residence in Bukit Timah late at night, armed and stealing over 4.9 million dollars, quickly splitting into two groups to escape Singapore. Six of them pleaded guilty in the High Court on Monday (September 14), with the two masterminds sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison, 24 strokes of the cane, plus a fine of 4,000 dollars.

In court, it was revealed that the masterminds, Wu Wentong (30 years old) and Huang Zhishan (35 years old), learned from a friend who had previously attended the poker game that the house often held poker games at night. After scouting the location, they discovered that the front door of the house would not be locked during the game. Wu Wentong and Huang Zhishan then recruited five other accomplices, specifically coming to Singapore to commit the crime. This armed robbery occurred around 2 a.m. on April 18, 2024, at a residence in the upscale Alper Wang Garden area, where 11 men and women were playing poker in the living room.

According to the case details, around March 2024, Wu Wentong and Huang Zhishan decided to rob the poker players at the house due to financial issues. They knew that they could not carry out such a large-scale robbery with just the two of them, so they contacted Hamidun, who runs a private security company and provides debt collection services, to help gather a team, promising a reward of 1.5 million ringgit (approximately 470,000 Singapore dollars). After the group succeeded, they left in a multi-purpose vehicle, splitting into two groups to leave Singapore via the Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints. At the same time, several players in the private residence managed to free themselves from their restraints and reported the robbery to the police. With the assistance of the Royal Malaysia Police, the six defendants were arrested between late April and November 2024 and were extradited to Singapore for prosecution. The police have since recovered virtual currency worth 1.69 million dollars, while the remaining funds and property are still missing.