UNDERNEATH the low-key non-threatening exterior lurked a dangerous criminal mind.

Mohd Nasir Mohd Haset, 49, was your typical family man. Married with two daughters, he lived in a HDB maisonette in Jurong.

Those who knew him said the clean-cut Singaporean did not fit the profile of a crook.

One of them, who previously did business with Nasir, said: "He was a family man who would often talk about how he came from a poor family as a child. As a father, all he wanted for his two daughters is to give them a life of luxury."

But Nasir is one of the region's car-smuggling masterminds, police said. Oddly enough, Nasir does not have a criminal record.

As one friend put it: "I was really surprised when we heard he was arrested."In court, it was revealed that Nasir was responsible for exporting 270 stolen Malaysian cars to foreign destinations.

He and his crew became the "Singapore link" which handled more than$11.6million worth of stolen cars.And he did it with the help of other syndicate members in Indonesia and Malaysia.

He would receive his orders from a syndicate leader in Indonesia by the name of"Kelvin".

Just across the border, the Malaysian counterpart of the car-smuggling ring would steal the cars and drive them into Singapore.

The cars would then be parked at multi-storey carparks to be processed by Nasir's crew.

"Kelvin" would also inform Nasir of the types of cars entering Singapore via the checkpoints.

It was only after the August 2006 arrest of two men, whose job it was to park the stolen cars in Singapore, that the police realised there was a mastermind operating here.

One of the two Malaysian men caught revealed that Nasir was in charge of collecting the stolen cars and loading them into containers for export.

When Nasir was arrested on 21 Aug last year at the ferry terminal at HarbourFront, he denied being part of any syndicate.

Police described him as an arrogant, smooth criminal, who was confident that the police could not pin him with any evidence. Senior Station Inspector (SSI) Azmi Othman, 40, whose team from Ang Mo Kio division was responsible in crippling Nasir's operation, said: "The most challenging aspect of the investigation was gathering sufficient leads to track Nasir down as well as finding enough evidence to effect an arrest on him.

"During the initial interviews, he was not cooperative and did not reveal much. However, we managed to get vital clues that we needed."

SLIP OF THE TONGUE

One of these clues Nasir let slip was the name of a freight-forwarding company- but he had apparently mispronounced it.

Senior Staff Sergeant (SSSGT) Abdul Halim Md Hanapiah, 44, who was one of the investigators, said: "I don't know whether he did it (mispronounce the name) deliberately to taunt us, but it seemed Nasir was confident that we would never be able to follow up on his case. But he was wrong."

The investigators spent countless hours contacting shipping and freight-forwarding companies.The break came when they discovered that Nasir had recently used the services of one freight-forwarding company that sounded somewhat like what he had given.

The company had unknowingly exported six stolen cars for Nasir.The paper trail began to lead to Nasir and the evidence appeared rock solid.The team checked with more shipping companies and found out that Nasir had been exporting the stolen cars using various aliases.

With the help of the Royal Malaysian police, the Singapore police were able to verify that the cars Nasir exported had indeed been stolen.

SSSGT Halim said Nasir was finally willing to cooperate after they presented all the evidence to him.

CAREFUL CRIMINAL

From seized shipping documents, police learnt that Nasir was a careful mastermind.

He moved the loading areas for the stolen cars twice. From as early as July2005, Nasir had been overseeing the loading and exporting of the stolen cars.

To avoid detection, he was careful not to leave behind any pattern that the police would notice.

On some days, he would export only one car. On other days, like on 6 Jun 2006,he exported 19 stolen cars.

While some of the cars were cheap sports utility vehicles (SUVs), others were more exotic and expensive, like the $113,000 Nissan Murano and a $204,000Mercedes Benz.

On 3 Apr, Nasir was convicted of disposing stolen property and was sentenced to six years' jail.

Two other suspects, who had helped him, are on the run.

BIG RISKS, SMALL PAY

The regional syndicate, with its lucrative multi-million dollar business, was dealt a blow with Nasir's arrest.

Yet, despite the big risks, Nasir was believed to have made only a small amount.

SSI Azmi said: "Each car probably cost between $2,000 and $5,000. However, we believe that Nasir shared these gains with his accomplices, who helped him with the thefts."

HOW THE SYNDICATE WAS BUSTED

A SILLY mistake cost the syndicate big time.On 13 Aug 2006, a police patrol car noticed there were two Malaysian-registered

Toyota Fortuners parked on different levels at a multi-storey carpark in Ang Mo Kio.

Both SUVs shared the same licence plate numbers - BH28.

Officers from the Ang Mo Kio Property Offences Squad decided to lay an ambush after discovering from their Malaysian police counterparts that the cars had been stolen earlier.

They did not wait long to spring it.The next afternoon, a suspicious Malaysian-registered car entered the carpark.

The police observed a passenger alighting from the car and heading to one of the stolen Fortuners.

It was driven out of the carpark followed by the other accomplice in the car behind.

The Malaysian driver of the stolen Fortuner, Lee Ah Ngah, 53, was arrested by the police.The other driver, Low Wah Sang, 40, escaped, but was later arrested on 16Aug2006 as he was trying to get into another stolen Malaysian car parked at HarbourFront.

It was Low who implicated Nasir for his role in the car-smuggling syndicate.

Both Low and Lee were each sentenced to two years' jail.

Last November, another group of Singaporeans were arrested in connection with car-smuggling activities.

Frontman Yunos Taib, 51, was jailed five years and six months for concealing stolen property.

The common link between Yunos and Nasir's activities was a man named "Kelvin"also known as "Edwin".

The man still remains at large in Indonesia.He is believed to be the head of the Indonesian car-smuggling syndicate.