A 19-year-old Singaporean has admitted in court to stealing delivery parcels left outside public housing flats in Bishan. Hong Jiahan pleaded guilty on Wednesday, January 14, to six charges of theft, with several other similar offences taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that Hong deliberately targeted housing blocks where parcels were often left unattended outside homes. Police cameras showed him arriving at a public housing block in Bishan on March 21 last year. He went there with the intention of stealing parcels belonging to residents.
Hong took the lift to the top floor and walked down level by level, checking outside housing units for parcels.
During that visit, Hong stole a parcel belonging to a 32-year-old woman. To avoid being seen, he went to another floor and hid the parcel inside a dry riser. The victim later realised her parcel was missing and filed a police report the next day.
Hong returned to the same block two days later at about three in the morning to collect the parcel. It contained a vacuum cleaner worth about one hundred and forty Singapore dollars. He later gave the vacuum cleaner to a friend.
On March 22, Hong returned to another housing block in Bishan to steal parcels again. The court documents did not disclose the exact addresses. This time, he trailed a deliveryman and waited for parcels to be placed outside units before choosing one to steal.
He used the same method of hiding the parcel inside a dry riser and returned two days later to collect it. The parcel contained a Zouya keyboard worth three hundred Singapore dollars. Hong later listed the keyboard on the online marketplace Carousell for eighty-eight Singapore dollars. When there were no buyers, he began using it himself.
More Items Taken and Police Arrest
Using the same approach, Hong went on to steal parcels containing cosmetics, shoes, and Garmin smartwatches. Victims of these thefts made police reports after discovering their parcels were missing.
Police later identified Hong and arrested him on April 13, 2025. Officers recovered several items, including the used keyboard, smartwatches, and empty parcel packaging.
Sentencing Pending Court Report
The court has called for a probation suitability report and adjourned sentencing to March. For theft, Hong could face up to three years in jail, a fine, or both.
