SINGAPORE – After devising a plan to travel to other countries to steal money from unattended bags, a man gathered three other men to target unsuspecting victims.
The four Chinese nationals decided to target Singapore as they felt the exchange rate against the renminbi would work in their favour. The group also decided that the ringleader would split any proceeds under an agreed arrangement.
The men successfully stole $100 in cash, along with a purse, keys, an NRIC and some transport tickets before they were nabbed.
On June 15, two of the men, Yu Haibo, 50, and Zhang Wei, 44, pleaded guilty to three charges of theft.
Yu, the mastermind, was sentenced to four months and two weeks’ jail, while Zhang was sentenced to two months and six weeks’ jail. The prosecution had sought a higher sentence for Yu as he was the most culpable, having come up with the plan and recruited Zhang.
The court heard that at the start of 2026, Yu came up with a plan to travel to different countries to steal cash from unattended bags.
He recruited Zhang to be a part of his scheme. Zhang then recruited two others, Ren Fubin, 40, and Sui Haibo, 40.
Both Ren and Sui are due to be dealt with in the district court. Ren will return to court on June 17, while Sui will return on June 16.
The group decided to carry out the plan in Singapore and agreed that all stolen proceeds would be given to Yu, who would then deduct their travel expenses from the amount.
The group also agreed to split the remaining proceeds, with 60 per cent going to Yu, 15 per cent each to Ren and Sui, and 10 per cent to Zhang.
The group travelled to Singapore in late March and continued on to Malaysia around April 1, before returning to Singapore around April 12.
Yu and Zhang admitted that the group committed various offences between April 1 and April 14 after researching areas with high foot traffic.
Ren and Sui worked as a pair to target unsuspecting victims, while Zhang served as the lookout. Yu, meanwhile, remained in the hotel room.
He also told the others not to reveal his involvement if they were caught, so that he could help them from the outside.
On April 13, Zhang, Ren and Sui headed to VivoCity to look for victims. After spotting a man who had placed his bag on a bench while on the phone, Sui nicked the Christian Dior handbag.
The three men met outside the mall and found $100 in cash inside, along with a set of keys, another purse, an NRIC, a plane ticket and two Maxi Cab tickets.
The men threw the bag into the shrubs after taking the $100. The bag was later recovered by police.
Later that day, the three men went to Marina Bay Sands to look for more victims. While there, they spotted a woman who had left her Chanel handbag in a paper bag next to her.
Ren then pretended to ask the woman to help take a picture of him, while Sui swiped the paper bag when she was distracted. After meeting at a nearby shop, the pair discarded the handbag after seeing that it contained only a passport, an identification card and a hotel room key.
The handbag was later recovered with all its items intact.
The four men met later that night to split the $100, which was spent on cigarettes and a meal.
On April 14, Zhang, Ren and Sui headed to Palawan Beach Walk on Sentosa to look for more victims.
Ren spotted a man’s wallet at the beach, picked it up and took $261 from it. He did not know that the man had spotted him rummaging through the wallet.
The man stopped Ren from leaving, and called the police after finding that $261 had been stolen from his wallet. All four men were arrested on the same day.
The prosecution said most of the stolen items were recovered, and the outstanding loss was around $250.