Getaway driver in S$100,000 Ang Mo Kio jewellery robbery sentenced to 3 years’ jail, caning

• Veeramani Subran Das, 37, pleaded guilty to being the getaway driver 
• He also helped to hide the stolen jewellery in an abandoned building
• The alleged mastermind of the robbery has claimed trial

SINGAPORE — A 37-year-old former Grab driver became the first individual to be dealt with for stealing S$100,000 worth of jewellery from an Ang Mo Kio jewellery shop last year.

On Monday (Nov 2), Veeramani Subran Das was sentenced to three years’ jail and six strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with two other men — former Gojek driver M Jegatheesh, 27, and Sharavindran Suppiah, 31 — to rob the elderly owners of Hock Cheong Jade & Jewellery Shop.

The trio made off with S$119,288 in jewellery which included gold necklaces, bracelets and pendants.

Jegatheesh and Sharavindran face the same charge and are currently waiting to go on trial.

HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED 

The court heard that the three men met at Geylang Lorong 30 on Aug 13 last year where Jegatheesh allegedly told the others that he intended to rob the shop the next afternoon.

“Jegatheesh had targeted this shop as it looked old and he thought that it would not have any alarms installed. Further, Jegatheesh chose this shop as the owners were of advanced age and would not be able to put up resistance,” Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Thiagesh Sukumaran and Jeremy Bin told the court.

Two brothers — now aged 70 and 75 respectively — owned the shop at Block 574, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10.

Jegatheesh also told Veeramani that he would get paid to be the getaway driver, the DPPs said.

The next afternoon, Veeramani drove his Toyota Vellfire over to a block of flats near the shop. He then got into Jegatheesh’s rented Honda Civic.

Jegatheesh told Veeramani to drive to the car park at Block 565, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 and wait for him to commit the robbery. 

He then walked to the shop with a black duffel bag.

The prosecutors said that Jegatheesh chose car parks that did not have electronic gantries to make it harder for authorities to track their cars. 

When Jegatheesh entered the shop, he tried to pull down the roller shutter at the entrance but it got stuck. 

He gave up and shouted at the two owners: “Don’t move, don’t talk!”

They pressed pre-installed hidden alarm buttons to notify a security company.

Jegatheesh found the keys for jewellery display cabinets hanging behind a cabinet door. 

He then unlocked the drawers and swept the jewellery into his duffel bag, the prosecutors told the court.

The two owners shouted for help and a passer-by who heard them called the police. 

Jegatheesh then jumped over the counter and fled. 

Veeramani picked him up, drove to the original car park and left in his own Toyota with the jewellery while Jegatheesh fled in the rented car.

‘BRAZEN AND AUDACIOUS’

While driving home, Veeramani took three pieces of jewellery for himself.

Later that day, he drove Sharavindran to Woodlands Police Division headquarters for an unrelated police case. When he was in the car, Sharavindran inspected the bag’s contents.

The prosecutors said that afterwards, Sharavindran tried to sell the jewellery but was unsuccessful. He then hid them in one of the units at an abandoned blocks of flats at Dakota Crescent.

On Aug 16 last year, police officers raided Veeramani’s home and he threw the three pieces of jewellery he had previously taken out the window. 

The police have since recovered all of the stolen items.

In seeking the sentence imposed, the DPPs said Veeramani had played a critical role in a “brazen and audacious daylight robbery”.

Veeramani could have been jailed up to 10 years and received at least six strokes of the cane.