ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Stealing branded bags and purses from malls in Ho Chi Minh City’s central urban district has landed a Singaporean couple a prison sentence, the City’s local news agency reported on July 18.
Shawn Han Sxe Siang, 42, was handed a three-and-a-half-year prison term, while his partner, Loh Si Yu, 25, received a three-year sentence at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court 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.
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 VND102 million (SGD5,400).
They were caught red-handed on Aug 9, 2023, at the Union Square mall in District 1 while swiping a Louis Vuitton bag worth VND29 million.
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.
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, another Vietnamese news agency reported.
The source has contacted Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
