Jail for man who worked for alleged key syndicate member; nearly $6.5m of vape products uncovered

SINGAPORE – A man worked for an alleged key syndicate member to manage a vape business from a warehouse unit, where the authorities discovered more than 500,000 vaping-related products worth nearly $6.5 million.

On March 10, Chua Wang Ju, 32, was sentenced to 40 weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to two vaping-related charges.

The Singaporean worked for Malaysian Chua Wee Ming, 34, described as “the co-owner of the vape syndicate” in court documents, and whose case is still pending.

Details of the warehouse unit have been redacted from the documents.

Chua Wang Ju’s bail was set at $30,000 on March 10 and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on April 7.

In September 2023, he learnt about a job to pack vaporisers through a man known only as Liang.

He accepted the job offer after Liang offered him a monthly salary of $2,500.

After starting work later that month, he received instructions from Chua Wee Ming via a group chat on messaging platform Telegram.

According to court documents, Chua Wang Ju also worked with Malaysian Chew Ming Hing, 31, who was a packer at the warehouse unit.

Health Sciences Authority (HSA) prosecutor Debra Ann Tan said Mr Chew, who worked at the warehouse from January to March 2024, is still at large.

Chua Wang Ju’s roles included receiving daily orders from Chua Wee Ming and Liang’s sales agents in several Telegram group chats.

He communicated with the pair’s courier drivers and made arrangements for them to collect parcels for delivery.

Ms Tan said that in March 2024, two delivery drivers were involved in ongoing investigations with HSA’s Tobacco Regulation Branch, but she did not reveal the details.

The authorities discovered that there was a warehouse unit where parties would collect prepacked parcels of items such as vaporisers and heatsticks – which are tobacco products that are heated and not burnt – for delivery to customers around Singapore.

On March 19, 2024, HSA officers conducted an inspection and spotted Chua Wang Ju, who had a bunch of keys to the warehouse unit.

After he was caught, he let them in using a facial recognition device.

The officers seized items including his mobile phone.

Ms Tan said: “Incriminating chat logs were retrieved from the accused’s mobile phone which revealed that (he) took instructions from mainly (Chua Wee Ming and Liang) to manage the vape business from the warehouse unit.”

Between March 19 and April 23, 2024, the officers seized more than 500,000 vaporisers and components that have a street value of nearly $6.5 million.

Chua Wee Ming was arrested after an islandwide operation on Oct 10, 2024.

He currently faces multiple charges for offences including cheating.

Singapore has since passed tougher laws on vapes.

Among other things, the new Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act was amended to strengthen enforcement against vaping and Kpods, which are vapes laced with the anaesthetic agent etomidate

Penalties for vape offences have been raised significantly under the Act, to five times for users, 20 times for sellers, and 30 times for smugglers.

This means vape users face fines of up to $10,000, while sellers can be handed fines of up to $200,000 and six years’ jail.

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Health, said there had been several cases of illegal vape operations in warehouses and storage units.

To deal with this, a new offence was introduced to put the onus on owners and occupiers to prevent others, such as tenants, from storing prohibited products on their premises.

If they fail to do so, they face jail time of up to three years and a $100,000 fine for a first offence, with penalties doubling for repeat offences.