Man jailed 9 days for importing gun-looking toys
A man who illegally imported toy guns resembling real firearms was sentenced to nine days’ jail on Nov 15.
Two police raids of Liu Huijian‘s home uncovered more than 150 of such toy guns or their parts.
After a 43-day trial, the 44-year-old Singaporean was convicted of unlawfully importing at least one toy gun into the country.
Samples of the toy guns were sent to agencies including the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), which found that they were spring- or battery-operated to shoot gel, rubber or plastic pellets.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie told District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz that the HSA had found that at least one of the toy guns, which fired plastic pellets, carried a risk of causing eye injuries.
According to court documents, Liu said in a police statement that he purchased “50 plus” guns through Taobao, a China-based retail platform, which were delivered to his Singapore home via a logistics company.
Liu sold the toy guns and toy gun parts – imported without a permit from the Commissioner of Police – on online marketplace Carousell in what DPP Cheah called “a home-based business”.
A buyer, identified as Mr Kui Jun Hua, had purchased toy gun parts from Liu via Carousell some time between the night of Nov 15, 2018, and around 9am the next day.
On Nov 16, 2018, Mr Kui engaged a Grab driver, Mr Tan Chee Pheow, to pick up the goods from Liu’s home in Sims Place and take them to Woodlands.
Mr Tan told the court during the trial that he was handed a box that purportedly contained items such as books and magazines.
He testified that he sensed something was amiss when he found that the box was heavy.
He asked Liu to open the box and rejected the booking after spotting a gun-like object inside. Mr Tan also informed Grab about the encounter.
Soon after, Liu told Mr Kui over WhatsApp about what had happened, saying it was fortunate that the police were not called.
He told the buyer he was “scared”, and asked him to arrange for a delivery man.
However, Mr Kui made another Grab booking. The second driver accepted the parcel and was on an expressway when he received a phone call from a Grab operator telling him that it could contain a gun.
The driver then took it to the nearest police station, Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional Headquarters, where a pellet gun was found inside the box. Three officers then raided Liu’s home.
Liu, who was unrepresented by a lawyer, had refused to take the stand during his trial, and did not call on any witnesses in his defence.
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