Driver bought almost S$282,000 in stolen goods off warehouse workers to resell, gets jail

SINGAPORE: Three men were hired to handle dry goods such as rice, salt, sauce and seasoning for a distributor, but instead stole large amounts of the items and sold them to a delivery driver for a lower price.

The delivery driver handled almost S$282,200 in stolen goods over about 10 months, selling them to his relatives, the distributor's own customers and to buyers on Telegram and Carousell.

Muhammad Khairudin Bin Kamis, a 29-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail on Monday (Sep 4) for his crime.

He pleaded guilty to one count of habitually dealing in stolen property.

The court heard that Khairudin was employed by Land Transport Services and contracted to the Lim Siang Huat dry goods distributor as a driver.

The company was located at 6 Fishery Port Road and distributed dry goods such as rice, salt, sauces and seasoning.

The co-accused are: Kalaichelven Genesan, a 30-year-old Malaysian, Muhammad Adham Syahin Noor Mohamed, a 24-year-old Singaporean and Temeantaran Perabagaran, a 38-year-old Malaysian.

Kalaichelven and Temeantaran worked as storekeepers for Lim Siang Huat, while Adham was a warehouse assistant. All three men were pickers - which means they prepared the company's products for drivers to deliver to customers.

The pickers would retrieve products for daily orders from the company's warehouse before placing them on pallets for the drivers to collect.

Around November 2020, Kalaichelven and Temeantaran asked Khairudin whether he wanted to buy the company's products at a cheaper price.

Khairudin knew that these products were stolen, but bought them anyway, intending to resell them for profit.

Adham joined the arrangement in December 2020.

Between Nov 16, 2020 and Sep 18, 2021, the pickers would pass stolen property to Khairudin, by placing products that were not part of the daily orders on the pallets.

Khairudin would take the additional products and sell them without the company's authorisation. Khairudin would take only a relatively small quantity of items each time. 

Given the large number of orders that the company received daily, on top of their daily inventory replenishment, it was difficult to detect what was going on, the prosecutor said.

Khairudin sold the stolen products to his relatives. He also sold them to the company's customers, by asking them if they wanted to buy expiring products at a lower price when he made his deliveries.

He also sold a small quantity of the stolen items to buyers on Telegram and Carousell.

Around August 2021, the general manager of the company noticed discrepancies between the inventory listed in the electronic system and the actual inventory in the warehouse.

The manager did an internal investigation and realised that products were going missing. A customer also gave feedback that someone was selling company products at prices lower than market rates.

Subsequent internal and police investigations identified the four men as the culprits.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Liew asked for between 30 and 36 months' jail for Khairudin, citing the premeditation involved.

However, he noted that the scheme was "unsophisticated" and that Khairudin did not play an active role in the initiation of the scheme.

He was allowed to begin his jail term in October.

The cases for two of the co-accused are pending.