18 months' probation for woman, 20, who stole 5 cars with 4 others

SINGAPORE — Aware that a car export business here kept their cars unlocked and parked with the car keys inside the vehicles, a group of five people stole five cars from the company in May 2022.

The plan for the heist was conceived after one of the other accused persons lamented that he wanted to rent a car, but it was hard to do so since he was wanted by the police for separate matters.

Among the group was Nur Ameerah Muhammad Fowzi, who was aged 18 at the time and helped to keep a lookout while her accomplices made away with the cars.

On Wednesday (July 31), Ameerah, now 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of committing theft of a motor vehicle.

She was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation, with the following conditions:

• She has to remain indoors between 11pm and 6am, unless otherwise varied by the Probation Services Branch
• She has to perform 60 hours of community service
• Her mother and aunt will be bonded by a S$5,000 sum during her probation period, to ensure her good behaviour

Another four charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The other co-accused persons are three men aged 30, 44 and 47 and a 35-year-old woman.

THE HEIST

Sometime on or before May 22, 2022, three of the co-accused had met at a bar along Circular Road in the Boat Quay area.

One of the men who was wanted by the police said that it was tough for him to rent a car and It was also expensive to rent one. Court documents did not disclose the nature of his alleged offence.

In response, the other two who were with him said that they knew a location where cars were frequently parked, with their car keys left within the vehicles. It is not known how they came to know this.

The trio agreed to head to the location to steal cars.

Sometime later, Ameerah arrived at the bar and was told about the plan. The nature of her relationship to the others is not disclosed in court documents.

The four then travelled together to the company at Tai Seng near Upper Paya Lebar Road.

When they arrived, Ameerah and one other person waited in the car to keep a lookout, while two of the men went to search for cars to steal.

After a brief search, they located two Toyota cars that were unlocked, with their car keys left inside the vehicles.

Both vehicles were in the possession of Torque Autos, a car export business that regularly buys cars with expiring or expired Certificates of Entitlement, for export to overseas customers.

Torque Autos had bought the vehicles for S$3,800 each and parked them at the car park outside its office.

One of the two men opened the driver’s door to one of the Toyota cars and used the car key to start its engine.

The other man got into the second car, which was also unlocked and with its key inside the car.

The two men then drove away in the two cars, while Ameerah and the other person on a lookout followed after them in their own car.

The group drove to a nearby petrol station, where they topped up petrol for the stolen cars.

The next day, the group stole three more cars with a total value of S$152,500.

The role of the fifth co-accused person and the status of the four other cases were not disclosed in court documents.

On May 27, 2022, a police report was made by someone saying that his customer’s car had been stolen. 

The stolen vehicles were later recovered by the police over the course of investigations.

For committing theft of a motor vehicle, Ameerah could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.