Robbers jailed for seven years

Robbers jailed for seven years

SINGAPORE: Two Indonesians and a Malaysian who fled to Singapore
after committing two robberies in Malaysia have each been
sentenced to seven years jail and 12 strokes of the cane, reports
said on Friday.

Their "escape" to Singapore on March 18 sparked a brief, but
massive, manhunt involving more than 1,200 local police officers
and soldiers, according to the Straits Times.

The trio had stolen a motorized sampan, or small boat, in
Malaysia's southern-most state of Johor after committing an armed
robbery at a market and originally set out for the nearby
Indonesian island of Batam.

But, with Malaysian police in pursuit, they were forced to
change course and landed on Singapore's Pulau Tekong, a heavily
forested islet reserved for military training,

In sentencing the trio on Thursday, Senior District Judge
Richard Magnus said they were "no ordinary domestic criminals
(and had) displayed an alarming bravado". -- AFP