A 38-year-old Malaysian man found himself needing to pay off his debts. His solution: “armed” robbery.
Ho Heen Seng equipped himself with the most bizarre of weapons: a flintlock pistol straight out of the 1700s.
As it turned out, this archaic firearm was just a lighter. A really clunky one from the looks of it. Do you mime shooting yourself in the head each time you need to smoke?
Barber Threatened With Fake Gun in Robbery
The man also wanted an accomplice, and it turned out he had someone in mind. When working at a mobile phone store in September 2022, he met a 14-year-old boy. They talked through texts and referred to each other as “Boss” and “Little Brother”.
In just a month, Ho had the boy on board with his illegal plan.
On 14 October 2022, at 9:48 pm, they stormed a barbershop at Katong Shopping Centre. The duo threatened the elderly barber with the fake gun during the robbery, saying, “Do you want to die?”, according to Shin Min Daily News.
Believing the flintlock to be real and probably not keen to be killed by a weapon from a few centuries ago, the barber ended up physically restrained by Ho.
His young accomplice seized S$900 from the shop and the two made their escape. For some reason, they left the phony firearm in the store. Perhaps they wanted to save the police some time.
Criminals Drugged Sex Worker & Stole Her Valuables
Not satisfied with the haul, the defendant made an appointment with a 40-year-old sex worker at her own rented house.
Having asked his accomplice to buy sleeping pills, Ho directed the 14-year-old to enter the house and drug the sex worker with them.
After she fell asleep from the drugs, they stole S$47,200 worth of valuables from her, including two expensive Rolex watches which they quickly sold.
They reportedly then spent the rewards on an Apple smartphone each, despite Ho committing the crimes in the first place to pay off his debts.
Hopefully, they teach financial management classes in jail.
Both victims called the police after the crimes, and the cops arrested the two involved within 24 hours. On the bright side, the defendant probably got a good time for the Go to Jail speedrun.
Ho also alleged that his initial targets were his own two roommates, whom he suspected of being sex workers and thus assumed they would not call the police after being robbed. Talk about a roommate from Hell!
He switched his targets after another roommate was present at the time.
On 2 July 2024, a judge sentenced Ho to three years and 21 months in jail and 24 strokes of the cane over the two counts of robbery and one count of breaking and entering.
A similar case took place years ago with a Boon Lay pawn shop robbed by a man armed with a fake gun and bomb. It went about as poorly.