Singapore Customs said on Thursday about 1,000 packets of illegal cigarettes were found on Chen Zhihua when officers conducted a raid on his rented room in Ang Mo Kio.
Two parcels, said to contain rice, had arrived from China addressed to Chen. Suspecting they contained cigarettes, Customs officers arranged for the parcels to be delivered to the Ang Mo Kio address.
After Chen has received and signed for the parcels, the officers moved in and asked to inspect the contents. They found 50 cartons or 500 packets of contraband cigarettes.
They then raided his rented room and found another 465 packets in Chen's travel bag.
Chen was arrested and the cigarettes were seized. Investigations revealed that Chen had arranged for the cigarettes to be brought into Singapore to be sold.
In a follow-up, Customs officers also visited Chen's workplace to check the lockers there and found another 39 packets in a locker belonging to one Chen Qihan.
Qihan, 24, then admitted that the cigarettes belonged to Chen who was his colleague. Chen had actually called Qihan that morning to say that he had been arrested and that officers would be checking the lockers.
Chen had asked Qihan to help him remove the cigarettes from his locker after which Qihan took the cigarettes and hid them in his own locker.
Qihan was arrested and the items seized.
Chen Zhihua pleaded guilty to possessing illegal cigarettes and was sentenced to a year in jail on Wednesday.
Chen Qihan, also pleaded guilty to two charges of abetting and was fined $4,400 or sentenced to a default 16 days' jail term.
The total duty and GST of the illegal cigarettes amounted to over $7,790.
