SINGAPORE: A group of Chinese nationals watched videos on social media about Singapore’s wealth and decided to travel to the country, break into houses and steal valuables.
As part of the syndicate’s plan, six Chinese men entered Singapore to break into landed properties, with some of them making away with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and jewellery.
Zhou Yinggui, 36, had just been recruited and joined a third housebreaking trip when officers from the Singapore Police Force, including Gurkhas, arrested him and three other members of the group.
He was sentenced to 20 months’ jail on Thursday (May 14). He pleaded guilty to one count each of being a member of a locally linked organised criminal group and conspiring to break into houses in order to commit theft.
A third charge was taken into consideration.
The three other men arrested – He Jiao, Zhou Qifa and Yang Chao – were sentenced to over five years’ jail last month. The remaining two members of the syndicate, Hu Wen and Zhou Ji, remain at large.
THE CASE
In 2025, five of the criminals, excluding Zhou Yinggui, had a discussion in Kuala Lumpur and agreed to break into houses in Singapore.
They had seen multiple videos on Chinese social media about how wealthy Singapore is and planned to break into “vulnerable” landed properties in Singapore and steal valuables.
The first wave of the group, comprising He, Zhou Qifa, Yang, Hu and Zhou Ji, came to Singapore in July 2025.
They bought and distributed screwdrivers and wrenches among themselves before splitting into two groups and taking private-hire vehicles to private landed properties to look for targets.
Their selection criteria included houses in more secluded places, near forested areas or parks, as well as houses with no closed-circuit television cameras and no dogs.
The group’s efforts were fruitless the first two nights, but they settled on a house on Greenleaf Rise as a target on Jul 18, 2025. The residents were overseas, and only their helper was home.
