Private-hire driver who imported 1,100 vaporisers worth over $23k into S’pore gets 14 weeks’ jail
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Suntharathasan Kanathasan was sentenced on April 22 after he pleaded guilty to importing the illicit goods.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE – Through a passenger, a Malaysian private-hire driver learnt of a job which could earn him up to RM10,000 (S$3,200) a month.
But it involved transporting disposable vaporisers from his home country to Singapore.
Despite this, Suntharathasan Kanathasan accepted the offer and managed to earn RM2,000 from smuggling the vape-related devices on two occasions.
The third time he tried to do so, he was caught.
In January, officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) checked the boot of his vehicle and found 1,100 disposable vaporisers, worth more than $23,000 in total.
On April 22, Suntharathasan, 31, was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to importing the illicit goods.
Health Sciences Authority prosecutor Debra Ann Tan told the court that around mid-January, Suntharathasan picked up a passenger who introduced him to one “David Roy” on Facebook.
Suntharathasan learnt about the job after chatting with this person, and was told he could earn RM1,000 a trip. He accepted the job.
Ms Tan said: “The arrangement was for the accused to park his vehicle at a Shell petrol station at Mutiara Rini in Johor... at 8pm. The accused would hand over the keys to the cashier at the petrol station.
“Thereafter, the accused was instructed to return at 3.30am the following day to collect the vehicle, which would have been loaded with the goods.”
As part of the plan, Suntharathasan was told to enter Woodlands Checkpoint before 6.30am, as this was a “busy time” for the authorities.
Once he was in Singapore, he was to drive to a carpark in Woodlands and leave the vehicle there for an unknown person to retrieve the disposable vaporisers.
After the illicit items were unloaded, “David Roy” would send Suntharathasan a text message to tell him that the job was completed. Suntharathasan would then drive back to Malaysia to receive his payment.
Around 5.20am on Jan 27, Suntharathasan drove from Malaysia to the Woodlands Checkpoint and was caught after ICA officers inspected his vehicle. He was charged in a Singapore district court soon after.
