Khor Kok Soon (许国顺 Xŭ Guóshùn; 23 February 1953 – ) was a Singaporean gunman who was notorious for his high-profile shoot-out with the police at Shenton Way on 30 July 1984 and was also the prime suspect behind the murder of a 26-year-old lorry driver, whom he held as a hostage to help him drive away from the police before he allegedly killed him. Khor, who was involved in previous armed robbery offences prior to the 1984 shooting incident, fled Singapore after the gunfight and went on the run for the next 19 years, therefore becoming one of Singapore's ten most wanted criminals.
Khor was arrested at Malaysia's Johor Bahru in December 2003, and he was extradited to Singapore to be charged with murder under the Penal Code, and also faced another three charges of illegally discharging a firearm under the Arms Offences Act. Subsequently, Khor was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the lorry driver's murder, but he was convicted of firing his gun with intent to cause hurt, and sentenced to death on 25 February 2005. After losing his appeal in September 2005, Khor was eventually hanged at Changi Prison in 2006.
Biography Khor Kok Soon was born in Singapore on 23 February 1953 and grew up with many siblings. He only studied up to Primary Six in elementary school, and he left school to become independent. It was at this point that he gradually went astray, and he was first caught committing theft at age 13. He also became addicted to gambling, and often suffered great losses.
In 1979, Khor was arrested for robbery, but the charge was reduced to theft and Khor spent a few months in prison before his release that same year. Shortly after his release, Khor formed a gang with three other people, in which all four of them would commit armed robbery, and they were involved in nearly 15 cases. Out of these robberies, Khor was involved in the October 1983 robbery of a lead factory owner in which he fired three shots at the victim, who survived the injuries. Another case took place on 30 March 1984 at Empress Place, where Khor robbed a pregnant woman and got off with S$9,000, and a third at Enggor Street on 19 May 1984, where Khor robbed a pair of sisters at gunpoint and got off with S$36,000 in loot.
In his personal life, Khor was married with two daughters, who were born in 1974 and 1978. He also worked odd jobs and even sold ang ku kueh to make a living aside from his criminal career.
Shenton Way shooting incident Shoot-out with police
On the afternoon of 30 July 1984, 31-year-old Khor Kok Soon and his 43-year-old accomplice Lim Woo Sung (林武生 Lín Wǔshēng), alias "Toh Huay Seow", planned to commit armed robbery at Shenton Way. Riding a stolen motorcycle, both Khor and Lim headed to Shenton Way, and upon reaching the place, they roamed the area and monitored at least six banks, looking for a target to rob. The pair's intention was not to rob a bank, but to rob any people who carried huge amounts of cash to the bank.
By the time the pair went to the sixth bank, a team of police officers were already arriving due to a tip-off about the presence of armed robbers at Shenton Way. When Khor went inside the bank to search for targets to rob, Lim was approached by police and he was arrested. As for Khor, he was followed by two police detectives, Corporal Quek Chek Kwang (郭志光 Guō Zhìguāng) and Sergeant Lim Kiah Chin (林家振 Lín Jiāzhèn). After stalking Khor for some distance on the streets, both Sergeant Lim and Corporal Quek proceeded to restrain Khor, who brandished his gun, a .22 Browning Hi-Power, and pointed it at the two officers after breaking free of their grip. Afterwards, Khor made his escape.
While the two policemen gave chase after Khor, Khor ran onto the road and he attempted to climb onto a passing lorry, threatening the driver at gunpoint to drive him to safety. While Khor tried to enter the lorry, he first discharged his gun at one of the two officers, Sergeant Lim, who was the nearest behind him. The shot missed Sergeant Lim, and several shots were exchanged between Khor and the two officers, who were joined by a third policeman, Senior Inspector (SI) Cyril Sta Maria, who was not involved in the operation to capture Khor but happened to be driving by while off-duty. After the shoot-out, Khor managed to get into the lorry, and it drove off despite the police giving chase.
Murder of Ong King Hock
Later that day, the lorry which was boarded by Khor was found abandoned in a back alley at Teo Hong Road, and inside the lorry, the 26-year-old lorry driver Ong King Hock (王庆福 Wáng Qìngfú) was found dead with a gaping gunshot wound on the right side of his neck, with his body leaning against the steering wheel. At the time of his death, Ong, the fifth of seven children, left behind a fiancée, his parents, two older brother, two elder sisters and two younger sisters, and he worked for his brother, a contractor, as a lorry driver. On that fateful day, Ong was driving that lorry along Shenton Way after having lunch with his brother, with the intention of heading to the police station to pay a traffic fine on his brother's behalf, when Khor entered his lorry and forced him to drive him before he was killed, allegedly by Khor or any of the pursuing police officers. A search in the area also led to the discovery of Khor's bloodstained shirt, which implied that Khor was injured on the back shoulder. However, Khor was nowhere to be found.
According to Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, the senior forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Ong's corpse, the cause of death was due to the bullet penetrating the neck and severing the spinal column, which killed Ong within minutes. Also, it was opined that Khor was most likely the one who killed Ong, as the bullet that killed Ong did not belong to any of the policemen's revolvers, because the bullets issued to police were of .38 calibre and the test firing of the police's guns showed none of the bullets matched to those of the bullet, which was measured to be much larger than .22 calibre. Based on the degree of damage caused and little amount of blood around Ong's driver seat, the shot that killed Ong was fired point blank from a close-range distance of 10 to 12 cm, and the killing may have taken place at the back alley of Teo Hong Road or somewhere in the nearby streets.
In a coroner's inquiry that took place in December 1998, 14 years after Ong was killed, State Coroner Shaifuddin Saruwan issued a guilty verdict of murder, which effectively found Khor guilty of murdering the lorry driver, though it did not amount to a conviction. By then, Ong's family was still paying attention to the case's developments, and Ong's ex-fiancée had re-married in 1988 and become a mother, but like Ong's bereaved kin, she still regularly sought updates on the development of her former fiancé's case and hoped for justice to be served.
Wanted list As a result of the shoot-out, as well as the murder of the lorry driver Ong King Hock, 31-year-old Khor Kok Soon was immediately placed on top of the police's wanted list, with preliminary charges of murder and firearm offences tendered against him. They also informed the public through the media to be alert of the "armed and dangerous" murder suspect. The police also sought the assistance and cooperation of the local police from both Malaysia and Thailand to trace Khor's whereabouts, as he was believed to have escaped to either Malaysia or Thailand. The remaining members of Khor's gang were also arrested and dealt with under the law, and Khor's accomplice Lim Woo Sung, who was caught on the day of the shoot-out, was placed under detention. He died at the age of 55 on 17 August 1996 while in prison.
In 1987, Singaporean crime show Crimewatch re-enacted the Shenton Way shoot-out, with the police sending out a public appeal for members of the public to provide any information relating to Khor's whereabouts.
Khor remained one of the ten most wanted criminals on the wanted list for 19 years before his arrest, with the wanted list being regularly updated over the years in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2000 before his capture in Malaysia. In 1988, Khor surpassed wanted cop-killer Lim Keng Peng (alias Ah Huat), who shot detective Goh Ah Kia in 1985 before he was gunned down in 1988, as the No. 1 wanted criminal on the list.
Life on the run After he managed to escape from the police, Khor Kok Soon spent his first days in hiding in Singapore. He managed to leave Singapore with the help of a local ganglord and went to Malaysia with the S$20,000 he reaped from his previous robberies. Before Khor left Singapore, he sent handwritten letters to the press, telling the reporters that he was indeed involved in the shooting, but he protested his innocence and said he was not the one who killed Ong King Hock, the lorry driver he held hostage. The handwriting on the letters were confirmed by Khor's wife to be her husband's.
After reaching Malaysia, where he would live in hiding for the next 19 years, Khor went to Johor Bahru to meet a friend, whom he asked for help to escape to Thailand, but the friend did not have anyone to contact in Thailand. On the friend's recommendation, Khor travelled to Kelantan to meet another acquaintance, with whom he stayed for months before returning to Johor Bahru, where he lived for three to four years while seeking refuge from a childhood friend, who recommended he work as an odd-job labourer.
After this, Khor would travel to and live for a few months in Kedah and Penang respectively, before he settled in Kuala Lumpur, where he lived until 1993, and moved back to Johor Bahru. Khor also incurred huge debts from gambling during his time hiding in Malaysia, making him often have to move between places to hide from his debtors. Khor also worked in various jobs (illegally) to sustain his living, including as a courier and odd-job worker. In August 2003, four months before he was caught, Khor suffered a stroke but he was still able to move normally.
Arrest and trial Capture and indictment
On 23 December 2003, after 19 years on the run, 50-year-old Khor Kok Soon was finally arrested in the Malaysian state of Johor by the Royal Malaysia Police. Three days later, Khor was extradited to Singapore to face trial. After he arrived back in Singapore, Khor was charged with one count of murder under the Penal Code for killing 26-year-old Ong King Hock, and another three counts of illegally discharging a firearm under the Arms Offences Act, in relation to him firing his gun at Sergeant Lim Kiah Chin.
Trial On 14 February 2005, after twenty years and seven months of evading justice, 51-year-old Khor Kok Soon was finally brought to trial for three charges of unlawfully discharging a firearm with intent to cause hurt. Khor did not stand trial for the murder of Ong King Hock, as the prosecution withdrew the murder charge against Khor in September 2004 and Khor received a discharge not amounting to an acquittal. It was reported that Khor, who denied murdering the lorry driver, was unhappy about the discharge and insisted to be tried for murder to prove he was innocent of Ong's murder. In his trial, Khor was represented by both Edmond Pereira and Chia Boon Teck, while Liew Thiam Leng was the trial prosecutor, and Kan Ting Chiu was appointed as the trial judge to preside over the hearing.