SINGAPORE — Looking to make extra money on the side, a supervisor at a transport firm co-opted an unsuspecting delivery driver to help him steal 60 cartons of antigen rapid test (ART) kits from a customer so he could sell them.

Lew Yun Poo, 33, was sentenced to 12 months’ jail on Tuesday (Oct 31) after he pleaded guilty to two counts of abetting another person to commit theft. 

Three other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

In total, Lew asked the driver to pick up ART kits from a customer of the firm on five occasions.

The total value of the ART kits stolen, including those that were the subject of the charges taken into consideration, was S$336,960.

Court documents did not disclose how much Lew pocketed from his ill-gotten gains through selling the stolen kits.

THE PLAN

The court heard that at the time of the offences, the Malaysian was employed as a supervisor for 138 Transport and Logistics, a company specialising in transporting items.

As part of his job scope, Lew was allowed to hire part-time workers for one-off jobs and he would use a recruitment chat group on WeChat to employ these workers.

Besides his role as a supervisor, Lew was also a delivery driver at the firm and would transport goods from YCH Group, a supply chains solutions company.

While doing this, Lew noticed that YCH would leave cartons of ART kits unattended.

He then decided that he would steal the ART kits to sell.

Lew contacted Mr Chen Jun, a director of Hong Supply and Mr Wong Zhe Hui, a director of Goal Green World, who both agreed to buy ART kits from Lew.

The two, however, had no knowledge of Lew’s intention to steal the ART kits in order to sell to them, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran.

Sometime in April last year, Lew became acquainted with Mr Fang Xiaozhong after Mr Fang answered the advertisement for a delivery job in the chat group.

Knowing that Mr Fang had a driving licence, Lew contacted him and asked if he was interested in a delivery job.

When Mr Fang expressed interest, Lew told him to use the company vehicle and drive to YCH’s premises to pick up the unattended cartons of ART kits.

Lew then told Mr Fang to deliver the cartons to him.

The delivery driver agreed, not knowing that Lew did not have permission to remove the cartons.

THE DISCOVERY

On July 17, 2022, Mr Chen asked Lew if he could supply him with more ART kits. 

Lew said he would check and asked Mr Fang to go to YCH, using the company’s vehicle, to collect as many ART kits as he could from the premises.

Mr Fang found 30 cartons of Biosensor ART kits valued at around S$86,400 at the YCH premises. He took the cartons and delivered them to Lew.

When Lew was asked if he could supply more ART kits, he instructed Mr Fang to go back to YCH where Mr Fang picked up another 30 cartons of Biosensor ART kits, also valued at about S$86,400, DPP Sukumaran said.

Lew spent the money he got from selling ART kits on gambling.

On the same day, the management at YCH discovered the missing cartons and contacted Lew to tell him that they would be calling the police.

Lew then contacted Mr Fang to tell him to delete all communication between the two of them and for Mr Fang to dispose his mobile phone.

Lew also asked Mr Fang to deny that they knew each other if asked.

Court documents did not say if Mr Fang did as told or if any action was taken against him.

In total, under Lew’s instructions, Mr Fang had driven the firm’s vehicle to YCH’s premises to pick up unattended cartons of ART kits on five occasions. Each time he delivered them to Lew who later sold them to Mr Chen and Mr Wong.

The total value of the ART kits stolen, including those that were the subject of the charges taken into consideration, amounted to S$336,960.

However, the police were able to recover only six cartons of ART kits from Mr Chen and Mr Wong, valued at S$20,200.

The remaining S$316,760 worth of ART kits have not been recovered and Lew has not made any restitution.

‘SIGNIFICANT PLANNING AND PREMEDITATION’

Seeking a sentence of 12 months’ jail, DPP Sukumaran argued that not only were the value of the ART kits quite substantial but there was a significant degree of planning and premeditation on Lew’s part.

Lew’s familiarity with YCH’s premises meant he knew there were unattended cartons of ART kits there. He had also recruited an accomplice, said DPP Sukumaran.

He added that the offences were difficult to detect as well, and Lew had attempted to erase all evidence of the offences.

For each charge of abetting another person to commit theft, Lew could have been jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.