Vihanya Rakshika The Straits Times July 20, 2024 A Singaporean couple have been sentenced to prison in Ho Chi Minh City for stealing several branded bags and purses from malls in the city’s central urban district, Vietnam’s VnExpress reported on July 18. Shawn Han Sxe Siang, 42, was jailed for three years and six months, while his partner Loh Si Yu, 25, received a sentence of three years at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on July 18 for the offences committed in 2023. The duo’s plan when they arrived in Vietnam in 2023 was to steal valuables from malls and then return to Singapore to sell them, VnExpress reported.
Loh’s role was to engage the store employees in a conversation to create a distraction while Han stole the items and took them to their hotel. Prosecutors revealed that the couple went on a stealing spree between Aug 6 and 9, 2023, striking several malls in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. The total value of their loot amounted to 102 million dong (S$5,400).
They were caught red-handed on Aug 9, 2023, at the Union Square mall in District 1 while swiping a Louis Vuitton bag worth 29 million dong. A subsequent police search of their hotel room uncovered seven bags and purses from well-known brands such as Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Gucci, which they could not prove ownership of. In court, Han confessed to the crime, while Loh initially denied having acted as a distractor and claimed that she was only trying to learn more about the bags by talking to the sales assistants Both Han and Loh later expressed regret, and apologised to the authorities.
They told the court that their challenging living conditions in Singapore had driven them to commit the crime, Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre News reported on July 19. They pleaded for light sentences so that they could return to their families soon. Investigators said Han and Loh are degree holders and had been working as an engineer and saleswoman respectively before their arrest, Tuoi Tre News reported.
The Straits Times has contacted Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
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