SINGAPORE — A man who was part of a fake-cop ruse to rob three Indian nationals of some S$1.3 million was yesterday sentenced to eight years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

Mohammad Ansari Abdul Hussain, 34, is the first to be sentenced among five men linked to the Dunlop Street robbery in September last year.

He and two accomplices had worn police uniforms to dupe their victims, who were foreign businessmen. They restrained the men with cable ties and robbed them.

Ansari pleaded guilty last month to charges of gang robbery and impersonating a public servant. Seven other charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The other four men implicated in the case have claimed trial. They are Mohammad Faizal Ajmalhan, 30; Magesan Ramasamy, 34; Arunachalam Laksmanan, 34; and Chinnaya Antony Samy, 35.

During sentencing, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow reprimanded Ansari, saying a heavy sentence was warranted because of the fake-cop ruse.

“The very symbol of law and order in our society was brazenly turned into a tool of criminality, audaciously employed to achieve the opposite of what it stands for,” said the judge.

He also noted the large sum of money involved in the case, adding that the recovery of almost S$900,000 was solely due to effective police investigation rather than any cooperation or remorse on the part of Ansari or his accomplices.

The entire operation to rob the men was also designed and executed with a high level of sophistication, which showed that their preparations were meticulous and the victims were specifically targeted, the judge said.

Ansari could have been jailed up to 20 years and caned for gang robbery. KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN