Man involved in failed $40,000 snatch theft attempt jailed

A man was handed a jail term of two years and nine months for his involvement in a botched snatch theft attempt and other offences.

Muhamad Sahlifi Suleiman, 44, pleaded guilty on Oct 24 to five charges: abetment of attempted robbery, cheating, two charges of drug possession, and one count of drug consumption.

According to court documents, Sahlifi was roped in by Tate Lim, who masterminded a plan to snatch $40,000 in cash from Mr Yin Yang, whom Lim believed was wrongfully withholding the money from a woman, Ms Wang Mengmeng in December 2022.

Mr Yin had made an arrangement with a man, identified as "Cyan", to exchange the $40,000 for Chinese yuan.

Separately, Ms Wang agreed to transfer some yuan into Cyan's account in exchange for $40,000 in cash.

Cyan later told Ms Wang and Mr Yin that he could not meet them in person. But he told Ms Wang that Mr Yin was his friend, and told Mr Yin that Ms Wang was his sister.

Mr Yin was carrying $40,000 in cash when he met Ms Wang on Dec 25, 2022.

Cyan told Ms Yang to transfer an undisclosed amount of Chinese currency to certain bank accounts. She did as instructed.

But Mr Yin refused to give her the $40,000 because none of the bank accounts belonged to him.

Both of them then went to the Jurong East Neighbourhood Police Centre to report the incident.

Upon learning this, Tate Lim asked his nephew, Ivan Lim Teng Tze, and Sahlifi to meet near the police centre to discuss a plan to snatch the money from Mr Yin.

Sahlifi later offered Amzar Daiyan Abdul Ghafor $1,000 to snatch the money from Mr Yin.

Lim's relationship with Ms Wang was not disclosed in court documents. Neither were the relationships between Lim, Sahlifi and Amzar.

It was also not stated if Sahlifi was offered anything in exchange for his involvement in the attempted snatch theft.

As Mr Yin left the police centre in a taxi, Ivan Lim and Amzar followed him in a car.

After Mr Yin alighted in Bukit Batok Street 52, Amzar tried to grab the money, but failed. In the process, he punched Mr Yin in the face.

Tate Lim was sentenced to seven months' jail on Feb 13. His nephew was sentenced to three months and two weeks in jail on the same day.

Amzar was dealt with by the court earlier, but details about his sentence were not disclosed in court documents.

Other offences

Between August and September 2023, Sahlifi, who was employed as a team manager at Phamous Facilities Management Pte Ltd, cheated at least 19 subsidiary proprietors of $14,335.

He deceived them into transferring the monies, meant for refundable deposits for temporary electricity and water usage, to his personal PayNow account.

He made no restitution to the company.

On Jan 23, 2024, Sahlifi was arrested by Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers, who conducted a search of his home.

Officers found a Ziploc bag containing methamphetamine, and a block of vegetable matter which was later found to be cannabis.

Sahlifi's urine also tested positive for methamphetamine.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Charles How asked the court to sentence Sahlifi to between 33 and 35 months in jail.

"The sentence meted out against the accused should be sufficiently high to deter future would-be conspirators from attempting such violent acts of snatch theft in broad daylight, and they should also be proportionate to the potential loss posed and actual harm caused to the victim in this case," said DPP How.

Regarding the cheating charge, DPP How highlighted that Sahlifi was the "mastermind" of the scheme and abused his position to perpetuate the cheating.

He also had prior property-related offences, including cheating, theft, forgery and money-lending offences.

For abetment of attempted robbery, an offender can be jailed for one to seven years.

For possession of a Class A drug, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $20,000, or both.

For drug consumption, an offender can be jailed between one and 10 years.

For cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years.