1 day ago
4
SINGAPORE: Officers from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) who staked out a warehouse in Bishan after receiving a tip-off found a Malaysian man in a warehouse that contained thousands of vaporisers and related components.
Checks of the man's phone revealed a second warehouse in Ubi, which contained large quantities of vapes and components like pods and cartridges.
Chong Jun Keong, 21, was sentenced on Tuesday (Jan 6) to 41 weeks' jail, or more than nine months' jail. He pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing vapes or related components for sale, with another two charges taken into consideration.
THE CASE
The court heard that Chong worked as a sales assistant at a handphone shop called Lanavape in Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru in Malaysia. He earned a monthly salary of RM6,000 (S$1,898) at the store, which sold vapes and vape components on top of handphone accessories.
In July 2024, Chong got to know a customer known as John. In April 2025, John asked Chong if he wanted to work as a vape packer in Singapore for S$100 a day.
Needing more money due to the cost of living in Malaysia, Chong agreed.
Around May 8, 2025, Chong began working for John twice a week at a warehouse in Jalan Pemimpin in Singapore.
He was given keys for the warehouse as well as a second warehouse in Ubi, which opened in June 2025.
Chong worked at the first warehouse on Thursdays and Fridays, packing about 80 to 90 parcels a day. He had access to a phone in the warehouse and used an application on it to pack parcels according to instructions given by John via the app.
Delivery drivers would pick up the parcels and Chong would lock up the first warehouse when all the parcels were collected and head home to Malaysia.
He said that there were three delivery drivers, two of whom appeared to be Malaysian, while the third appeared to be Singaporean.
Investigations revealed that the Malaysian delivery drivers occasionally handed fresh stock of vapes and components to Chong.
Chong received his work schedule from John monthly and was told to memorise it before deleting the messages. As far as he was aware, the first warehouse ran for about eight months before it was raided.
CAUGHT BY HSA
On Jul 11, 2025, HSA officers carried out an operation at the first warehouse at 45 Jalan Pemimpin and spotted Chong exiting the building.
He was detained and escorted to the warehouse, where HSA discovered large quantities of vapes and related components. Chong claimed to be the only person in the warehouse, packing orders at the direction of John.
A total of 17,955 vapes and 29,522 vape components were seized from this warehouse.
The HSA officers found the location of the second warehouse in Chong's phone and opened it using keys they found in his vehicle.
There, they discovered 5,564 vapes and 13,412 vape components.
Of the thousands of devices found in both warehouses, Chong was found to be in possession of about 35,000 vapes or vape components for the purpose of sale.
The HSA prosecutor noted the thousands of vapes and components found in both warehouses, which were all meant for sale.
He added that the evidence showed this was a syndicated operation.
Chong was unrepresented.
He said via a Mandarin interpreter that he was Malaysian and was in Singapore for the past six months because of this case.
"I rented a room and during this period of time I spent my time reflecting upon my mistakes and I have no income (in) this period as well, and my family in Malaysia has been supporting me during this," he said.
The judge noted the need for deterrence in this case.
For possessing imitation tobacco products for sale, Chong could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000, or both per charge.
