The following is a list of major crimes in Singapore that happened between 1990 and 1999. They are arranged in chronological order.
1990 24 March 1990: At two different locations, two women were found murdered on that same night. One of them, 18-year-old Ng Lee Kheng, died from a fall from a flat at Circuit Road, while the other, Ng's 19-year-old best friend Foo Chin Chin, was stabbed fourteen times at an area near East Coast Park. The killings, which stirred the nation at that time, were all committed by 19-year-old carpenter Ng Soo Hin, who was Foo's boyfriend. Ng Soo Hin was charged with the two murders, and later stood trial solely for killing his girlfriend (who tried to break up with him before her death) while the other charge for killing Ng Lee Kheng was stood down temporarily. Despite confessing to the two murders, Ng Soo Hin stated he suffered from diminished responsibility at the time of the offences, but his defence was rejected and he was sentenced to death on 27 May 1993 for Foo's murder, and he was eventually hanged. 16 April 1990: Mohamed Nasir bin Taha, 35, and Zainali bin Yahya, 29, abducted and raped a 26 year old Chinese woman using a White Nissan Van. The victim was abducted along Jalan Bumbong, off Woodlands Road, at 9.30pm. The men were said to have forced her into the van and raped her in it, then taking her to Pender Road in Mount Faber, off Telok Blangah Road. On June 8, at 11pm, they abducted another 19 year old girl along Dover Close and raped her in the van. They then attempted to murder the girl by throwing her, tied up, into a canal along East Coast road at 1am.
15 May 1990: Known as the Amber Beacon Tower murder, both 21-year-old Kelly Tan Ah Hong and her boyfriend, 22-year-old James Soh Fook Leong, were attacked by two men while they were on a date at Amber Beacon Tower in East Coast Park. Tan was stabbed in the neck while Soh was knifed in the back. Soh managed to reach a nearby restaurant to seek help before losing consciousness. Both of them were hospitalized. Soh survived the attack, but Tan died from her neck wound. Soh was unable to identify the attackers and had no idea why he and Tan were attacked. There were also no murder weapons found at the scene. A 2015 report revealed that Soh is married and has a son. He is still haunted by the memory of that incident. , the case remains unsolved. 16 June 1990: Indian national Hartej Sidhu and his Singaporean accomplice Sarjit Singh were arrested in the coffee shop of the Sea View Hotel on Meyer Road after they had attempted to sell 1 kilogram of heroin and 10 kilograms of opium to an undercover Central Narcotics Bureau officer for a total of $40,000. Both were found guilty at trial and sentenced to death for the joint enterprise of trafficking over 600 grams of heroin and 9.3 kg of opium, and they were hanged on 19 May 1995. 10 October 1990: 38-year-old Clementina Curci Di Girolamo, who had just migrated from Italy to Singapore with her family three days before her death, was found dead in a bathroom at her new house around Bo Seng Avenue. She had died due to being immersed in water and strangulation. 18-year-old Maksa bin Tohaiee, a cleaner working for the family, had been stealing items from the house when Curci had caught and confronted him. They got into a fight which led to Curci losing consciousness after Maksa strangled her. Maksa claimed that he thought that she was dead so he left her body in the bathtub and fled. Maksa was arrested and charged with murder. Although he had confessed earlier, during the trial Maksa denied signing the confession and tried to establish an alibi that he was not at the murder scene on the day. However, the testimonies given by Maksa's family members about where Maksa's whereabouts at the time of the murder were riddled with inconsistencies, resulting in Maksa failing to substantiate his alibi defence. On 25 November 1992, Maksa was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Maksa filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal and made a plea for presidential clemency, but both pleas were rejected and he was eventually hanged a year later on 26 November 1993. 12 October 1990: 30-year-old Tan Hui Ngin was last seen leaving her home to go babysit her brother-in-law's children but she never came back. Tan was reported missing for four days before her half-naked corpse was discovered at an abandoned egg hatchery in Punggol. Five months later, a suspect was arrested in Malaysia and extradited to Singapore to face a murder charge. The killer, who was Tan's childhood friend Lim Lye Hock, a Singaporean, was found guilty of murder by Justice Lai Kew Chai and sentenced to death on 1 December 1993, and was eventually hanged. 27 October 1990: 30-year-old Malaysian and transvestite Lim Yeow Chuan was found dead in Johore Road, Bugis Street. His body was riddled with stab wounds. According to witnesses, Lim was last seen with two men, 23-year-old Malaysian national Soosay a/l Sinnappen and 21-year-old Singaporean prison guard Kuppiah s/o Saravanan, who were arrested and charged with Lim's murder. However, Soosay, who stabbed Lim, would eventually stand trial alone for murder, while Kuppiah was sentenced to five years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for robbery and assault. At the trial in 1992, Soosay told the court that they had a friend, Leo Chin Hwang, who had met Lim two days before the murder, and revealed that Lim had stolen Leo's gold chain and money; Leo had sought Soosay and Kuppiah's help to get the gold chain back from Lim. However, when they confronted Lim, he not only refused to return the gold chain, but also turned aggressive and threatened the men with a knife, going as far as to insult Soosay's mother. Soosay then fought with Lim. When Lim refused to stop fighting, Soosay stabbed him a few times. Lim had pursued the two men for a few yards before he collapsed and died. Soosay's account was corroborated by Kuppiah's testimony at the trial. On 2 November 1992, Soosay was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by High Court judge M. P. H. Rubin. However, upon appeal, the Court of Appeal found Soosay guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on 10 August 1993, and sentenced him to nine years in jail. 6 November 1990: Mr Ng Kwang Keng drove to 27-year-old Mr Lim Kim Leng's residence at Block 14 Taman Ho Swee with two other men, identified as “Tan” and “Pui Kia”. He then stabbed Lim in the upper thigh after an argument regarding $22,000 Lim owed him. Lim subsequently died on 8 December after developing renal failure and other complications. Lim was arrested in Malaysia and deported back to Singapore in 2023. He was convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means. On 30 December 2025, he was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment, backdated to 21 December 2023. 22 November 1990: 20-year-old National Serviceman Lee Teck Sang, who deserted from his military service and hid at Singapore Polytechnic for 17 days, armed himself with a knife and attacked a 45-year-old lecturer Tan Chin Liong. Tan, a Malaysian, was stabbed three times, and one of the wounds penetrated the heart, causing him to die from excessive blood loss. Lee was arrested, and sentenced to death for murder on 7 October 1992. He lost his appeal and was hanged on 29 July 1994. Hong Kong national Daniel Chan Chi-pun was caught with 464g of heroin. He was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death on 8 May 1993. Chan's appeal was dismissed and he was initially scheduled to hang on 25 November 1994, before it was postponed by a clemency appeal. Subsequently, the plea was denied, and Chan was hanged at the age of 38 on 10 March 1995. 1 December 1990: At her rented house in Katong, a 20-year-old Malaysian woman named Wong Mee Hiong was murdered by one of her male tenants Yap Biew Hian, who stabbed her with a knife and bludgeoned her head with a spanner while attempting to steal her valuables. Yap, a Malaysian, also fled to Malaysia but was arrested nine days later when he returned to Singapore. 22-year-old Yap was charged and sentenced to death for murder three years later on 10 March 1993. His appeal was dismissed in October 1993, and he was eventually executed. 10 December 1990: Nigerian nationals Gabriel Okonkwo and Paul Okechukwu Ngwudo were arrested at the Harbour View Dai-Ichi hotel on Anson Road, after the Central Narcotics Bureau raided their room and discovered 784 grams of heroin in the secret compartment of a briefcase. Undercover DEA agent Wilbert Lee Plummer, who was also involved in the operation that resulted in the arrest of Johannes van Damme, had earlier collected another briefcase containing heroin from the pair, on the understanding that he was a drug mule who would take it back to America. Both were found guilty of drug trafficking, sentenced to death, and hanged on 5 August 1994. 14 December 1990: At a void deck in Marsiling Drive, 14 members of infamous gang Ang Soon Tong arrived to wage a war with their rival gang Gi Leng Hor, which was active in that area itself. Several innocent bystanders were attacked by the Ang Soon Tong under the presumption that they were gang members. Five people were injured and a sixth victim, Sivapragasam Subramaniam (a 20-year-old Malaysian), died as a result. The 14 Ang Soon Tong members were arrested and charged with the murder of Sivapragasam, and in the end, the gang's headman Sagar Suppiah Retnam was convicted and hanged on 7 July 1995 for murder, while the remaining 13 people were jailed for lesser charges of rioting and causing grievous hurt (with some of them given caning for the offences).
1991 12 February 1991: 78-year-old Sukarti Amari was attacked and strangled to death by two men, who intruded her flat at Telok Blangah and blinded her by throwing chilli powder into her eyes. The two killers - 29-year-old Mohamed Jaafar Abidin and 34-year-old Yacob Rusmatullah - used raffia string to strangle Sukarti and even stole her gold valuables from her flat. Three months later, the police managed to arrest the two of them and charged them with murder. Subsequently, Yacob and Jaafar were found guilty of murdering Sukarti and sentenced to death on 13 April 1993. After the loss of their appeals against the death penalty, Jaafar and Yacob were both hanged on 26 August 1994. 27 February 1991: At his house in Geylang, 32-year-old businessman Ng Keng Hua was attacked and stabbed by two burglars who entered his home. Ng was fatally wounded on the lung and heart and he died as a result. Within a month, the police managed to arrest one of the burglars, Tan Bee Hock, who was charged with murder. Tan, who was identified as the one responsible for the fatal stabbing, put up a defence that Ng's death was an accidental stabbing resulting in death, and he only wanted to commit burglary with his friend, Toh Laie, who was not arrested at the time of Tan's trial. Tan was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in March 1993, while Toh, who was classified as one of Singapore's ten most wanted criminals, remains on the run as of today.