SINGAPORE - The suspect in the 2016 Standard Chartered Bank robbery has been extradited to Singapore and will be charged with robbery and money laundering on Tuesday (March 17).
Canadian David James Roach allegedly robbed the bank's Holland Village branch of $30,000 on July 7, 2016, by walking into the bank and slipping the teller a note with his demands, claiming that he had a weapon.
Roach then fled to Thailand, where he was arrested on July 9, and later sentenced to 14 months' jail for violating money laundering and other Thai Customs laws.
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He was deported from Thailand in January 2018, but was detained in London, at Singapore's request, while en route to Canada.
The Thai government had rejected Singapore's request to extradite Roach, as the two countries have no extradition treaty in place.
The successful extradition from Britain marks the end of a lengthy process to have Roach return to Singapore's shores.
Singapore had to reassure the British government that he would not be caned if he were to be convicted of robbery, which is an offence that comes with mandatory caning here.
British laws prohibit the authorities from extraditing Roach without such an undertaking. The country had abolished caning for criminals in 1948.
Roach appealed multiple times to the British High Court to reverse the decision to extradite him to Singapore, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) in a joint statement.
The High Court heard and dismissed his appeal, and Roach was handed over to the Singapore Police Force's custody on March 16.
He arrived in Singapore on Tuesday, and will be charged in court on the same day.
Said the SPF and AGC in their joint statement: "The Singapore authorities will do whatever is necessary and permissible within our legal framework to pursue and bring to justice those who commit crimes in Singapore, regardless of nationality and where they might have fled to.
"We will also not hesitate to take firm action against these individuals, and will seek an appropriate sentence if they are convicted."
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
