Gambler jailed over $5.2m vape haul
A man with a gambling habit rented a Woodlands warehouse unit for an alleged key member of a syndicate dealing in vaping-related products after the latter purportedly offered to clear the man’s debts, totalling around $80,000.
In April, the authorities raided the unit and seized vaping-related items with a street value of more than $5.2 million. They included more than 156,000 sets of assorted e-cigarette devices and over 252,000 pods.
On Nov 28, Singaporean Toh Wee Leong, 38, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and given a fine of $14,000 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally helping alleged syndicate member Chua Wee Ming, 33, store the e-cigarette devices and pods, which were intended to be sold to others.
Toh will spend an additional 28 days behind bars if he fails to settle the fine. The case involving Chua, who is Malaysian, is pending.
The court heard that Toh’s legal woes started sometime in 2021 when he ended up in debt due to gambling.
Toh told investigators he was later introduced to Chua, and the two men met in a pub in Malaysia sometime between April and May 2022.
Toh also said that Chua, who is referred to in court documents as Ming, offered to clear his debts if he agreed to transport e-cigarette devices into Singapore by concealing them in a vehicle.
On Sept 17, 2022, Toh imported e-cigarette devices into Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint but was caught. Details about this incident were not disclosed in court documents.
But Health Sciences Authority (HSA) prosecutor Donn Praabu Dennis told the court: “Toh stated that following his arrest... Ming informed Toh that since he had cleared Toh’s debts and since Toh had not successfully managed to import the e-cigarette devices into Singapore, Toh would have to rent a warehouse unit in Singapore under his name for Ming’s use.”
Toh told investigators that around April to May 2023, Chua arranged for him to meet an unknown property agent who showed him the warehouse unit. Toh later signed a contract for its lease.
Unlawful operations at the unit started in May 2023, and according to Toh, he had seen boxes of e-cigarette devices there.
Sometime between July and August 2023, he went to Malaysia to hand over the contract to Chua.
Meanwhile, investigations revealed that two Thai nationals, identified as B1 and B2, entered Singapore in February 2024 to work as packers by someone known only as Bryan.
The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) later received information that two overstayers were staying at the warehouse unit rented by Toh, and officers raided it on April 24.
B1 opened the door and led the ICA officers into the unit, where they found the large quantity of e-cigarette devices in boxes. The ICA officers then detained the Thai nationals and alerted HSA.
During investigations, the pair stated that they were introduced to the job through a chat on the messaging platform Line.
They also said three other Thai nationals worked as packers with them, but the unknown trio were not around during the operation.
Before they were caught, B1 earned more than $7,800 in total, while B2 earned nearly $5,600.
The prosecutor said: “B1 and B2 stated that their roles involved collecting... prohibited items from a vehicle when it was delivered to them. (They also packed) e-cigarette devices and the related components according to incoming orders.
“The orders would be received by B1, who would then let B2 and the three other packers know. These orders would then be packed by them. Once packed, they would inform Bryan, who would then collect the orders for delivery.”
B1 and B2 stated that they worked from around 1pm to 7pm every day. They were also aware that items such as e-cigarette devices are illegal in Singapore. Despite this, they continued working as they needed the money.
Investigations later revealed that Toh had rented the unit, and he was caught soon after.
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