Lim Ban Lim

{{short description|Singaporean outlaw}} {{family name hatnote|Lim|lang=Chinese}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Lim Ban Lim | image_name = Lim Ban Lim.jpg | image_caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa}} 1940 | birth_place = Paya Lebar, Singapore | death_date = 24 November 1972 (aged 32) | death_place = Queenstown, Singapore | death_cause = Gunshot wounds | resting_place = | charge = | conviction_penalty = | occupation = Gangster | spouse = {{marriage|"Madam Yeo"|1956}} | children = 5 | other_names = Tua Hong Li Tau Hong Lim Seow Lim Ah Seow Suay Kia Oei Kia Ah Oei Jipun Kia Botak | known_for = One of Singapore's most wanted fugitives in the 1960s | signature = | allegiance = 18SioYiHo(小义和） | relatives = }}

'''Lim Ban Lim''' ({{zh|t=林萬霖|s=林万霖|p=Lín Wànlín|poj=Lîm Bān-lîm}}; {{circa}} 1940{{spaced ndash}}24 November 1972) was a Singaporean gangster and outlaw who killed a police officer and stole at least $2.5 million before he was shot and killed at the age of 32. Lim became one of the country's most wanted fugitives after shooting and wounding a police officer during an altercation in May 1965. After shooting dead another police officer in July 1968, Lim fled the country, with local authorities offering a $17,000 bounty in their search for him. He evaded capture until 1972, when he returned to Singapore and was killed by the Singapore Police Force.

==Early life== Lim was born and raised in Lorong Tai Seng ({{lang|zh-hans|大成巷}}) in Paya Lebar, Singapore.<ref name=newnation>{{cite news|newspaper=New Nation|title=Still No. 1 on the wanted list|last=Wee|first=Beng Huat|date=13 July 1972|page=2}}</ref> The third of twelve children, he was a son of a fisherman.<ref name=chart>{{cite news|newspaper=New Nation|last=Wee|first=Beng Huat|title=Killer's death means new Top Ten chart for the CID|date=29 November 1972|page=1}}</ref> He attended Fengshan Primary School but did not complete his primary education. Before embarking on a criminal career, Lim was at different times a hawker, construction worker, and handyman.<ref>{{cite news|language=Chinese|title=又是千面大盗忌日林万霖伏诛14年家人仍不忘追思|newspaper=Lianhe Zaobao|date=21 November 1986|page=6}}</ref>

==Criminal career==  Lim was a member of the Gi Ho secret society who was involved in several misdemeanors from as early as 1958.<ref name=st>{{cite news|newspaper=The Straits Times|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/guilty-as-charged-lim-ban-lim-was-most-wanted-gunman-in-singapore-and|title=Guilty As Charged: Lim Ban Lim was most wanted gunman in Singapore and Malaysia in 1960s|date=14 May 2016}}</ref> He was reportedly trained as a shooter in the Riau Islands.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wee|first=Beng Huat|title=Beware their deadly draw|newspaper=New Nation|date=11 October 1973|page=7}}</ref> He first attained notoriety in 1963, when he and three other gunmen ambushed the printing division of ''The Straits Times'' at Anson Road and stole $30,000 in an armed robbery.<ref name=st/> The same year, he stole $11,000 from the Singapore Steam Laundry.<ref name=night/> In 1966, Lim robbed the First National City Bank in Collyer Quay of $156,000, marking his most lucrative robbery in Singapore. In August 1968, together with five accomplices, Lim robbed the State Treasury in Johor, Malaysia of $452,000, killing a constable in the process. On 4 October 1972, Lim was involved in the robbery of the Atlas Electronics factory in Lower Delta Road and made away with $62,000.<ref name=hand/> In his nine-year reign as a robber active in both Singapore and Malaysia, Lim amassed a fortune of at least $2.5 million.<ref name=st/>

In May 1965, Lim became one of Singapore's most wanted fugitives after an altercation with Detective Peter Lim in Paya Lebar; the police officer had accosted Lim, who then snatched away his revolver, which fired and wounded Peter Lim. Lim later mailed the revolver to a newspaper editor, appending a letter which stated, "As a measure of self defence, I took the revolver and ran away. I could have shot at the detective while he was down but what for?"<ref name=newnation/> In September 1966, he shot and wounded in the leg Detective Allan Lee at the Odeon Cinema in North Bridge Road.<ref name=newnation/><ref name=st/> A $2,000 bounty was announced by authorities in October 1966.<ref name=reward>{{cite news|title=$2,000 reward for fugitive gunman|date=12 October 1966|page=11|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref>

On 23 June 1968, Lim shot and killed 27-year-old Corporal Koh Chong Thye with a semi-automatic pistol; Koh and two other police officers had been in pursuit of Lim after he was spotted in Serangoon. Koh, who was married with two children when he died, suffered gunshots to the chest and face and a fatal one through the forehead.<ref name=st/> The two other officers gave chase but Lim escaped and went into hiding, reportedly finding safe haven in the nearby countries of Indonesia, Thailand, and China. A nation-wide manhunt was announced by the Singapore Police Force, whose Criminal Investigation Department began organising more raids in the hopes of capturing Lim.<ref name=st/> An initial reward of $5,000 was also offered. The bounty was raised to $10,000 in March 1969 and a record $17,000 by November 1972.<ref name=chart/><ref name=st/>

==Personal life== Reportedly {{convert|1.65|m}} tall and of Hokkien descent, Lim was an ambidextrous shooter. To disguise himself, he reportedly cross-dressed and underwent plastic surgery. He went by many aliases, including Tua Hong Li,<ref name=night>{{cite news|title=The night police shot 'most wanted' Lim|date=23 December 1979|page=7|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref> Tau Hong Lim,{{Efn|Hokkien for "Crazy Lim".<ref>{{cite news|date=14 May 2007|title='You can only collect my body'|page=4|newspaper=The New Paper}}</ref> Also "Thau Hong Lim".<ref name=newnation/>}} Seow Lim, Ah Seow, Suay Kia, Oei Kia, Ah Oei, Jipun Kia, {{Efn|Also "Jepun Kia".<ref name=stole>{{cite news|title=Shot gangster stole $2.5m|first=K. S.|last=Sidhu|date=26 November 1972|page=1|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref>}} and Botak.<ref name=st/><ref name=reward/><ref>{{cite news|title=Mystery man: I got clue to murder|date=24 July 1968|page=4|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref> He married his childhood sweetheart, a "Madam Yeo",<ref name=stole/> in 1956 when he was aged 16.<ref name=st/><ref name=chart/> They had three daughters and two sons.<ref name=st/> After his death in 1972, Lim's family claimed that they had not seen him in some seven years.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dead duo leave $62,000 poser|newspaper=New Nation|date=19 December 1972|page=1|last=Wee|first=Beng Huat}}</ref> In December 1977, Lim's brother Ah Tee (born {{circa}} 1952) sustained serious injuries after being stabbed in the thigh and head by a mob of ten youths. Four of his friends were injured too. Another of Lim's siblings, Ah Lek, speculated that Ah Tee was attacked for his affiliation with Lim.<ref>{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Jansen|title=Youths stab brother of gunman|date=29 December 1977|page=25|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref>

On 30 August 1996, Lim's cousin Teo Kim Hong was hanged for murder.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2 September 1996|title=Trafficker, murderers hanged|newspaper=The Straits Times|page=33}}</ref> In May 2007, Teo's brother Teo Cheow Kim was sentenced to death for trafficking 30.37g of heroin.<ref>{{cite news|title=兄妹11年内遭同法官判死刑|date=14 May 2007|page=8|newspaper=Lianhe Wanbao|language=zh}}</ref> Lim Ah Tee had also been charged with drug trafficking in the same case as Teo but avoided the death penalty after the prosecution granted him a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gunman's brother escapes death penalty|date=14 May 2007 |page=4|newspaper=The New Paper}}</ref>

==Death== Lim had previously boasted to the police over the telephone: "You will never catch me. When you are about to arrest me, I will surely engage you in a gunfight. I will use the last bullet to end my life, so you can only collect my body."<ref name=st/> In November 1972, Lim returned to Singapore with his right-hand man Chua Ah Kow.{{Efn|Also "Chua Ah Kau".<ref name=hand>{{cite news|title=Shot gunman died by own hand...|page=10|date=19 December 1972|first=K. S.|last=Sidhu|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref>}} At the time, he was the most wanted fugitive in Singapore. On 24 November, Lim and Chua visited the ''pasar malam'' at Margaret Drive in Queenstown.<ref name=st/> Officers from the Rural West Division of the Singapore Police Force already had intelligence on their whereabouts. At about 8:15 pm local time, they were spotted by a team of six police officers lying in wait.<ref name=st/> The team was led by Deputy Superintendent Henry Edwards of Bukit Panjang Police Station.<ref name=lucky>{{cite news|title=Detective tells of his lucky escape in street gunfight|date=19 December 1972|page=15|first=Maureen|last=Chua|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref> Lim attempted to escape by separating from Chua but was shot and killed by the police. Lim suffered three gunshots to the body and reportedly staggered for some {{convert|10|m}} before dying with his revolver on his left hand. He was aged 32.<ref name=st/>

Although authorities were initially uncertain if the deceased was Lim, as he had changed his hairstyle and put on weight, he was positively identified by his fingerprints.<ref name=chart/> A revolver, thirteen bullets, $1.40 in cash, as well as a stolen identity card belonging to a 30-year-old Lim Kian Hua, were among his possessions found on him when he died.<ref name=stole/> An unnamed police officer was also killed during the shootout.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.police.gov.sg/~/media/e665a06f2bdb42be8c6ebfeeddb3e8ad.ashx|publisher=Singapore Police Force|title=Setia dan Bakti|page=41|access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref> Detective Chow Kim Loo was later publicly identified as the officer who fired the fatal shot that hit Lim in the neck.<ref name=lucky/> Chua managed to evade capture that night but committed suicide during a shootout with the police three weeks later at Tank Road on 17 December 1972.<ref name=st/>

==Aftermath== On 25 November 1972, 33 inmates escaped from the Ulu Bedok Reformative Training Centre.<ref name=free>{{cite news|title=The big escape: 25 still free...|newspaper=The Straits Times|page=1|date=28 November 1972|last=Sidhu|first=K. S.}}</ref> They had reportedly escaped to attend Lim's funeral,<ref name=st/> although the recaptured inmates later denied this by claiming that they were simply unsatisfied with the living conditions in the centre.<ref name=free/> Lim was buried on 28 November 1972 at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery.<ref name=chart/> Following Lim's death, the Arms Offences Act was enacted in 1973, making the use or attempted use of firearms to cause harm punishable by death.<ref>{{cite news|date=23 December 1979|page=7|title=The criminal who came back from Macau with brand new face|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref> Lim was reportedly the first criminal in Singapore to have evaded justice by undergoing plastic surgery; a second case was reported in November 1981.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gunman on the run gets new face?|date=30 November 1981|page=7|newspaper=The Straits Times}}</ref>

Singaporean serial killer Sek Kim Wah, who was charged with killing three victims during an armed robbery at Andrew Road and two more at Seletar Road in 1983, had once mentioned to a witness in his trial that he wanted to be better than Lim Ban Lim. Sek was indicted for all five murders but was only convicted of the triple killings at Andrew Road and given the death sentence in August 1985. After losing his appeal against his sentence in March 1987, Sek was hanged at dawn in Changi Prison on 9 December 1988.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/guilty-as-charged-serial-murderer-sek-kim-wah-found-it-thrilling-to-strangle|title=Guilty As Charged: Serial murderer Sek Kim Wah found it 'thrilling' to strangle victims|date=15 May 2016|website=The Straits Times|access-date=10 January 2021|last1=Baker|first1=Jalelah Abu}}</ref>

==References== ===Notes=== {{Notelist}}

===Citations=== {{Reflist|20em}}

Category:1972 deaths Category:Singaporean murderers Category:Date of birth missing Category:1940s births Category:Bank robbers Category:Fugitives wanted by Singapore Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Singapore Category:Murder in Singapore Category:Singaporean robbers Category:Crimes against police officers in Singapore Category:20th-century murderers