1½ years’ jail for man who imported over 4,300 vape pods, highest sentence to date for such offence

SINGAPORE – A man caught with over 4,300 vape pods worth around $22,000 was sentenced to a year and six months’ jail on Nov 5.

The sentence is the highest to date for the importation of non-etomidate vaporiser pods under the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said.

Syed Mohd Ridzuan Syed Yahya, 31, had admitted to importing the pods.

After the Malaysian applied for jobs through a Facebook page in early June, an unidentified man with a Malaysian phone number offered him a job.

Ridzuan travelled from Malacca to Johor Bahru to meet the man, whom he referred to as “Boss”.

“Boss” then registered a vehicle in Ridzuan’s name, arranged for the latter to reside in a rented house in Johor Bahru, and also procured a Malaysian SIM card for Ridzuan to use for communications involving the pod deliveries.

Ridzuan’s job was to drive the vehicle to transport vape pods to Singapore.

For each successful trip, he stood to earn RM1,000 (S$316).

According to Ridzuan, he was paid the amount for his first trip to Singapore on July 2, but not for three other trips later that month.

He was caught on July 10 by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officers during enhanced checks at the Woodlands Checkpoint.

The officers found boxes of vaporiser pods concealed in the interior side panels of the vehicle.

The case was referred to the HSA, which seized the vehicle and the pods.

Ridzuan was charged soon after.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.