Syed Alwi Road suitcase murder: Suspects held for psychiatric observation

[UPDATE on Friday, 20 June at 11:30am: Updating details of second case mention]

The two Pakistani men charged with the murder and dismemberment of their fellow countryman will be held for three weeks for psychiatric observation.

This decision, made by the presiding judge on Friday morning, is due to the gravity and nature of the case, where 59-year-old Muhammad Noor's upper body was found in a bloodied suitcase on Syed Alwi Road, and his legs dumped in a Muslim cemetery at Jalan Kubor, also in a piece of luggage.

Ramzan Rizwan, 25, and Rasheed Muhammad, 43, were previously first accused of murdering Muhammad Noor between early morning Tuesday and Wednesday early evening.

On Thursday, local media tailed police as they brought both Rizwan and Rasheed one by one back to the sites where the murder was believed to be committed.

If found guilty of murder, both men face the death penalty.

The two men were arrested a day after a piece of luggage with the upper half of the victim's body was found on Syed Alwi Road on Wednesday evening. Police later found the dead man's missing legs in the vicinity of Jalan Kubor.

According to a Facebook post by the Singapore Police Force on Thursday, the two men were arrested  within the vicinity of Rowell Road, following an operation that involved more than 100 officers.

They added that the identities of the suspects and deceased were revealed to them within 24 hours of the police report being lodged.

Police said they received on Wednesday a call for assistance at about 6:04pm, and upon arrival at the scene, near a road intersection, they found an upper body without legs in a luggage.

According to producer Eve Voigtlander, 24, who works at an office located a few units down from the scene, a blue tent was placed over the luggage by the time she left work at about 7:15pm. She said the area cordoned off was near the junction between Syed Alwi Road and Townshend Road.

“The area was filled with police tapes, and we spotted police cars and officers waiting outside the lines,” she told Yahoo Singapore. After speaking with people working at neighbouring units, she said she had learned that police had found a body in a suitcase.

A report from Channel NewsAsia said that at about 5pm, an old man asked two tourists for help with pushing a trolley that contained a suitcase. When they touched the bag, their hands became stained with blood, and they approached a fruit stall owner to wash their hands.

The broadcaster added that a "karang guni" man had opened the suitcase to find the body, understood to be male, inside it.

See police opening the luggage at the scene in this eyewitness video: