Men linked to largest seizure of vape products fined
Two men who were arrested during a raid in March 2023 that led to the largest seizure of vape products in Singapore were fined a total of $17,000 on March 7.
They were caught with vape products in a carpark in Sembawang on March 28, 2023, after the police received a tip-off from that location.
Leads from the carpark led Health Sciences Authority (HSA) officials to raid a warehouse in Mandai the following day, where they uncovered more than 85,000 vape products that had been prepared for sale.
Yeow Wei Feng, 27, was fined $9,000 after pleading guilty to two charges of possessing 240 sets of assorted vaporisers and 504 assorted pods. Two similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Muhammad Hailey Muizam, 23, was fined $8,000 after pleading guilty to two charges of possessing 404 sets of assorted vaporisers and 250 assorted pods. A similar charge was taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that Yeow and Hailey were hired through messaging app Telegram to work as couriers in a syndicate involved in the trade of vape products.
Yeow made around $10,000 from delivering the illicit goods between November 2022 and March 2023, while Hailey made around $2,400 from making such deliveries from January to March 2023.
On March 28, 2023, the two men were instructed to collect parcels from a multi-storey carpark in Sembawang at Block 592, Montreal Link.
While they were sorting the parcels, the police appeared. Caught by surprise, the men tried to flee in vehicles but were stopped by road blocks the police had placed on a lower floor of the carpark.
Several people were arrested in the carpark that night. Five suspected runners aged between 20 and 33 were detained after the raid at the warehouse.
HSA had said in an earlier statement that the March 2023 raid disrupted the operations of an illegal vape supply chain and was its largest haul, surpassing a seizure in 2021 where more than $2.2 million worth of items were seized.
Other than Yeow and Hailey, five others were charged in court in February over their alleged involvement in the case.
The five, whose cases are pending, are: Tham Jia Wei, 34, Goh Zheng Lei, 28, Tan Teck Jin, 21, Tan Ping Kang, 28, and Sin Poh Meng Ivan, 29.
Malaysian national See Hong Jian, who was involved in the Mandai warehouse operations, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and fined $16,000 on Feb 1.
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