Advertisement

Jailed: Bangladeshi overstayer who tried to rob pawnshop with fake bomb belt, disguised in Sikh turban

Sheikh Md Razan, being escorted by police back to the crime scene on 2 August 2018. (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)
Sheikh Md Razan, being escorted by police back to the crime scene on 2 August 2018. (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

SINGAPORE — A former construction worker who overstayed in the country and found it hard to get by decided to commit an elaborate robbery, a court heard.

Sheikh Md Razan, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi, spent an hour making a fake bomb belt and took up to one-and-a-half hours constructing a fake gun.

He also disguised himself with a Sikh turban.

At the State Courts on Monday (30), Razan was jailed for three-and-a-half years with 18 strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, exhibiting imitation weapons, overstaying for 236 days, having a forged work permit and using a forged work permit.

First arrested at airport in 2017

Razan was first arrested at Changi Airport on 13 February 2017 as he was about to leave the country. He was found with three mobile phones worth a total of $1,770, $200 in cash, and seven chains and a gold bangle worth $5,400 in total.

Investigations revealed that between 31 January and 13 February 2017, Razan committed a series of property offences involving the items.

He was remanded until 25 August 2017, when he was given a 24-month conditional warning for the property offences. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority then issued Razan with a special pass pending a disposal inquiry of the items, the court heard.

Razan was supposed to renew the special pass fortnightly. But he failed to renew the pass on 8 December 2017 and overstayed in Singapore since then.

Worked illegally to support himself

Razan arranged for someone in Bangladesh to forge two Ministry of Manpower work permits for him. The fake permits displayed his photo but reflected false names - ‘Mamum Md Al’ and ‘Rana’.

Using one of the forged work permits, Razan worked as an odd job worker, part-time painter and handyman. As part of his job, he had access to a tool store along Aliwal Street.

But Razan found that he still couldn’t sustain himself and had to rely on his family back home to remit money to him. By late July last year, he decided that he had to commit robbery to solve his financial woes.

Razan targeted jewellery shops as he believed that they had less security features and guards compared to banks, the court heard.

Got disguise, made fake weapons

“The accused decided to disguise himself with a turban as he had observed that his Sikh roommate’s face was partially covered when he wore his turban,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Chua.

“He also thought that he could throw the police off his trail by disguising himself as a member of a different ethnic group,” the prosecutor added.

On 26 July last year, Razan bought some clothes, a pair of spectacles and materials to make turbans from Bugis and Arab Street. He asked his roommate to help him tie a turban with the materials, and then hid the readymade turban under his bed.

The next day, Razan went to the tool store at night when he knew no one would be there. He spent an hour making a fake bomb belt using wires, among other things, and then another one-and-a-half hours constructing a fake gun using a metal pipe, among other things.

He also took a chopper with a 21cm-long blade from the tool store and kept it in his backpack as an extra weapon for the robbery before leaving the store in the early hours of the next day.

Scouted for suitable targets

Razan left his residence at New Bridge Road by 10am with a backpack containing his turban, spectacles, weapons, a few drawstring bags, a change of clothing, a shaving razor and a blazer.

He went to Jalan Besar and put on the turban at a public toilet. He then went to Boon Lay MRT station by bus and taxi.

After surveying the vicinity Razan identified a ValueMax pawnshop and loitered outside waiting to strike. But he gave up at around 1.30pm as the place was crowded.

Razan then went to Bendemeer but couldn’t find a suitable target there. He took a cab to Chinatown Point and found a suitable pawnshop but gave up when he saw some policemen. After heading to Kallang, he decided to take a taxi back to the ValueMax pawnshop in Boon Lay.

Failed robbery attempt

At a toilet at Boon Lay MRT station, Razan put on the fake bomb belt and blazer. He kept the fake gun and chopper in the inner pockets of the blazer.

He then waited for about 20 minutes outside the pawnshop for two customers inside to leave.

At about 4.30pm, Razan entered the pawnshop and demanded money from four staff who were behind the counter, enclosed with metal bars.

He flashed the fake bomb and threw a drawstring bag at the staff, ordering them to put money and jewellery inside. He also flashed his fake gun before slipping it back into the pocket of his blazer.

Razan then took out the chopper and brandished it at the staff. One staff tried to distance himself from Razan while two other staff couched and hid below the counter before sneaking into the back room. Another staff stood in a corner of the pawnshop frozen in fear the entire time.

When he realised that the staff weren’t complying and his plan wasn’t working, Razan removed his fake bomb belt and put it on the counter in a last ditch attempt to coerce the staff.

He then fled. At the time there was about $72,000 in cash and $15,547.49 worth of jewellery in the pawnshop.

One of the staff thought the bomb belt was real. He quickly grabbed it from the counter, ran out of the pawnshop and threw it several meters away towards an open space, before running into Boon Lay MRT station to call for help.

The police created a large cordon and directed the closure of two MRT exits and all exits at Jurong Point closest to the fake bomb belt. The belt was ascertained not to contain any explosives after nearly two hours.

Arrested five days later

Razan got rid of his disguise after fleeing. He first threw the fake gun in a nearby dustbin and threw his turban at another bin far away. He then went to a HDB block in Jurong West Street 64 where he changed his attire and shaved his beard and moustache to alter his appearance.

He placed the chopper and clothing he wore during the robbery into the backpack and left it at the third floor common corridor of the block.

To evade police detection, Razan took four different buses and a taxi to get back to his place of residence.

He was arrested at Sultan Mosque five days later, on 1 August 2018.

The punishment for attempted armed robbery is between two and seven years’ jail along with at least 12 strokes of the cane.

For each charge of exhibiting an imitation firearm when committing robbery, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years with at least three strokes of the cane.

Related stories:

Suspect in attempted Boon Lay pawn shop robbery used pink turban as part of disguise

Bangladeshi charged with trying to rob Boon Lay pawnshop using cleaver, fake gun