Gold Bars triple murders

Gold Bars triple murders
	Criminal Investigation Department officers inspecting the recovered gold bars
Date	29 December 1971
Location	Serangoon, Singapore
Outcome	Perpetrator Augustine Ang Cheng Siong indefinitely imprisoned without trial and given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal per a deal with the prosecution; Ang turned state evidence against his nine accomplices as part of the same deal; Remaining perpetrators found guilty of murder on 4 December 1972; Ringo Lee and Stephen Lee imprisoned indefinitely at the President's Pleasure on 4 December 1972; Chou brothers, Yau, Lim, James, Francis, Konesekaram sentenced to hang on 4 December 1972; Chou brothers, Yau, Lim, James, Francis, Konesekaram hanged on 28 February 1975; Ang, Ringo Lee and Stephen Lee released between late 1980s and 1990s;
Deaths	Ngo Cheng Poh (55); Ang Boon Chai (57); Leong Chin Woo (51)
Convicted	Andrew Chou Hock Guan (31); David Chou Hock Heng (34); Peter Lim Swee Guan (24); Alex Yau Hean Thye (19); Richard James (18); Stephen Francis (20); Ringo Lee Chiew Chwee (16); Stephen Lee Hock Khoon (16); Konesekaram Nagalingam (18)
Verdict	Guilty
Convictions	Murder (three counts)
Sentence	Death – Chou brothers, Yau, Lim, James, Francis, Konesekaram; Indefinite detention at the President's Pleasure – Ringo Lee and Stephen Lee

On 29 December 1971, the Gold Bars triple murders occurred when Ngo Cheng Poh (Chinese: 吴崇波; pinyin: Wú Chóngbō), a 55-year-old businessman and gold bar smuggler, was murdered by a group of ten men alongside his employees, 57-year-old Ang Boon Chai (Chinese: 洪文彩; pinyin: Hóng Wéncǎi) and 51-year-old Leong Chin Woo (Chinese: 梁振伍; pinyin: Liáng Zhènwǔ). The group also robbed the three men of 120 gold bars worth S$500,000. The robbery-murder was masterminded by 31-year-old Andrew Chou Hock Guan (Chinese: 邹福源; pinyin: Zōu Fúyuán), an air cargo supervisor who had been a middleman for Ngo's smuggling of gold onto flights from Singapore to Vietnam. He decided to commit the robbery due to an event that deteriorated Chou's ties to gold bar syndicates.

After a trial lasting 40 days, Andrew Chou, his 34-year-old brother David Chou Hock Heng (Chinese: 邹福兴; pinyin: Zōu Fúxīng), and five out of the remaining eight perpetrators were sentenced to death for murdering the three gold smugglers. The remaining three were placed under indefinite detention; two of them were minors at the time of the offence while the other became the prosecution's chief witness. After losing their appeals, the seven condemned were hanged on 28 February 1975.