Lorry driver caught smuggling over 14,400 vapes and components, then tried to illegally leave S’pore

SINGAPORE – A lorry driver who tried to smuggle more than 14,000 vapes and vape components into Singapore was caught at Tuas Checkpoint and had his passport impounded.

Three days later, the Malaysian man attempted to return to Malaysia illegally by

hiding in another lorry’s cargo hold

.

But the attempts of Mohammad Fakaruddin Mohd Rosli, 32, were no match for the sharp eyes of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Tuas Checkpoint, who caught him again.

On Nov 3, he was sentenced to 27 weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of attempting to leave Singapore without a passport and another for smuggling the vaping products.

A third charge for smuggling in the vapes was taken into consideration in sentencing.

In total, Fakaruddin tried to smuggle 4,780 vapes and 9,690 vape components.

The court heard that he was working as a lorry driver for a Malaysian logistics company and was facing financial difficulties after borrowing money from both legal and illegal moneylenders.

A friend of his then introduced him to two people, known only as Raj and Boy, whom the friend said he could contact if he needed to make extra money.

Raj and Boy, who are believed to be from a syndicate, offered to pay Fakaruddin for smuggling vapes from Malaysia into Singapore.

Fakaruddin subsequently did such jobs for them on three occasions, even though he knew it was illegal.

He then contacted them again on June 8, asking if there were any such smuggling jobs available for the next day.

They confirmed there was a job, and on the morning of June 9, Fakaruddin collected the lorry from his legitimate employer before picking up the scheduled consignment.

But instead of heading straight to Singapore to deliver the consignment, he drove to another location in Nusajaya, Johor, as instructed by either Raj or Boy.

There, three people loaded the lorry with the vapes and components, which Fakaruddin was told to smuggle into Singapore.

He was promised RM4,000 (S$1,200) for the delivery, which he was to complete after finishing his legitimate delivery job.

But as Fakaruddin passed through Tuas Checkpoint at around 4pm that day, his lorry was stopped and searched by ICA officers, who found the smuggled goods.

His passport was then impounded and he was released.

Fakaruddin later told another lorry driver that he wanted to go back to Malaysia as he missed his family, but could not do so as his passport had been impounded.

The other driver then told Fakaruddin to hide inside his lorry’s cargo compartment before he drove to Tuas Checkpoint on the night of June 12.

At the checkpoint, ICA officers pulled the lorry aside for further checks and found Fakaruddin lying down and hiding inside the cargo compartment.

He was arrested and has been held in remand since. The other driver was also arrested.

In mitigation, Fakaruddin told the court he has a son who was born in April with heart issues and was supposed to go for regular doctor’s appointments for two years.

But so far, the child has attended only one appointment, as there is no one to take the mother and child to the doctor.

“I am pleading with Your Honour for a lower sentence... I don’t want anything to happen to my child,” Fakaruddin said through an interpreter.

Before handing down the sentence, District Judge Terence Tay said there was a transnational element in the vape smuggling offence, and Fakaruddin had actively sought out the jobs.

The prosecution told the court that the last time a similar case of vape smuggling was heard was in May, as all such cases had been put on hold pending revised sentencing positions from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

For attempting to leave Singapore illegally, Fakaruddin could have been jailed for up to six months and fined $2,000.

For each of the vape smuggling charges, he could have been jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.