Yong Kwee Kong was a 27 year old Malaysian criminal from Bemban New Village in Malacca, who had previously been involved in almost 40 major crimes in both Singapore and Malaysia.
Malaysian authorities believed Yong worked as a hired killer and he was the chief suspect in two murders, one of which being the shooting of the wife of former Malacca magistrate Joseph Yap in Bukit Baru.
[1] Yong and his 20 year old Malaysian accomplice Lim Kok Yew were wanted by Singapore Police Force in connection with an earlier August 1979 armed robbery of the Teo Cheng Teoh Construction Company at Magazine Road, where over $12,000 in cash (the worker's payroll) and the jewellery of several victim's was taken at gunpoint by three men who later escaped in the yellow Toyota Corolla company car.
Inspector Liau Tick Liong called on the occupants of the apartment to surrender via a loud hailer,[3] inside the building Yong produced a pair of handcuffs and a revolver, then handcuffed tenants Grace Wah Ai Lian and Jennifer Chog Pak Moi to each other.
Lim claimed he wanted to surrender to the police at the Kim Pong Road apartment, but Yong had prevented him and then forced him into taking hostages under duress.