Singapore, Dec 21 An Indian-origin man in Singapore has been sentenced to 42 months in prison for conspiring with two Bangladeshi nationals to break into buildings, and steal copper wires and electrical cables.
Om Shakti Tiwari, along with Miah Shobus and Jan Shak Mohabbat, broke into empty junior colleges in 2020 from where they stole wires and electrical cables to sell them at a recycling shop for profit, Channel News Asia reported.
The court heard that in January 2020, Tiwari drove the duo to the vacant Jurong Junior College (JJC) at night in his van.
While Tiwari waited in the rented vehicle, Miah and Jan entered the main consumer switch room by breaking the padlock. After cutting the copper wires with large wire cutters, they tied them up and put them in the van before scooting off.
Tiwari later sold the wires at recycling shops and split the money among the three men, the Channel reported.
Tiwari sold 994 kg of electrical cables to a recycler for S$3,976, and another 773kg of cables to the same shop for S$3,976, which the trio had stolen from the Tampines Junior College in April 2020.
The robbery came to light after a technician, upon receiving a power trip complaint, conducted a check on January 20, 2020 at JJC. He found that around 1,000 m of copper wires worth S$20,000 was missing from the college's main consumer switch room.
While Jan was identified by the police through DNA analysis of of saliva left on a bottle at the robbery site, Miah was traced via camera images.
Tiwari's vehicle was spotted outside the theft locations by eyewitnesses and the police identified him from there, the report said.
The total cost to reinstate the stolen electrical cables at both campuses was S$1.24 million, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong Xin Jie was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia.
The prosecutor has sought 34 months' jail for Miah, saying "significant damage was caused to property, with premeditation involved".
Miah pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four charges of house-breaking to commit theft.The court sentenced Jan to 34 months' jail, while Tiwari was given 42 months. Miah will return to court to be sentenced on December 23 when another 10 charges will be taken into consideration.
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