The Singaporean police force has recently announced a robbery case involving a Bitcoin transaction. Pang Joon Hau, a Malaysian man,
traveled to Singapore on April 8th in search of Bitcoin sellers.
Pang contacted a broker in Singapore, who then met with Pang at his hotel where the two of them waited for the seller to show up.
The “seller” eventually showed up, accompanied by his “broker.” Once it was ascertained that Pang
was carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash without any sort of security protection, the criminals then assaulted Pang and his broker. The criminals then fled, carrying with them roughly the $278,000 USD Pang had brought with him.
Pang Joon Hau quickly filed a report after the robbery, which allowed the police to glean more information about the suspected criminals. After some intensive groundwork, the local Singaporean police announced last Thursday that they had captured the two criminals.
Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad, the Bitcoin “broker,” was arrested at a hotel in a smaller Singaporean district, Sentosa, and was charged with robbery by the police. However, the police also suspect that he is involved with another robbery case earlier in the year where he robbed over $150,000 Singaporean dollars worth of expensive items from a home.
However, some believe that before he was arrested, the criminal had already spent over $60,000 USD on a luxurious shopping spree, with some reporting that he spent some of the money on luxury watches. Due to the Bitcoin robbery involving an intent to hurt, he could be put in jail for a minimum of 5 years, a lengthy sentence to say the least.
Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope, his partner in crime, was arrested at a rail transit station with his 10,000 Singaporean dollar share of the stolen amount as he attempted to evade capture by police forces.
However, the unsuspecting buyer, Pang Joon Hau, has also been put under scrutiny by the police in Singapore as Arthur Law, Commander of Central Police Division Assistant Commissioner, mentioned that it was not normal for such transactions to be arranged that featured a large amount of physical cash to be exchanged for Bitcoin. The police are currently investigating the source of the funds carried by Pang.
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