Woman fined $1,500 for facilitating sale of vapes through WhatsApp
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Nicole Lorraine Rodrigues was unable to pay the fine and will have to spend a week in jail.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
- Nicole Lorraine Rodrigues was fined $1,500 and jailed for one week for abetting a friend's e-vaporiser purchase.
- She helped her friend order five vapes from her cousin’s wife.
- Hua Kimberly was fined $8,100 for selling vapes.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – A woman helped her friend order e-vaporisers on WhatsApp from her own cousin’s wife.
On Feb 12, Nicole Lorraine Rodrigues pleaded guilty to one count of abetting the sale of e-vaporisers and was fined $1,500.
The 32-year-old Singaporean was unable to pay the fine and will have to spend a week in jail.
Rodrigues was initially supposed to appear in court on Aug 21, 2025, but failed to turn up.
On the same day, District Judge Wong Li Tein told the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) prosecutor that she intended to adjourn the case, as she wanted the authority to relook its sentencing submissions given the heightened public interest towards vapes.
Court documents showed that Rodrigues received a message from her friend Fahmi while she was in Malaysia on Nov 23, 2024, telling her that he wanted to order vapes. Court documents do not indicate his full name.
She told him that her cousin’s wife, Hua Kimberly, sold vapes and helped him place an order for five vaporisers, at $20 apiece.
Rodrigues shared Hua’s address with Fahmi, and informed him that he could collect the goods there.
The transaction was completed at about 3.25am on Nov 24 that year after Fahmi collected the five vaporisers from a shoe rack outside Hua’s residence.
The incriminating chatlogs were uncovered on Feb 9, 2025, when Rodrigues was in a car stopped by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Woodlands Checkpoint.
She had hired the driver, Hong Seng Huat, to drive her and two others back to Singapore. ICA officers found 7,878 vape pods in Hong’s car. He was sentenced in May 2025 to four months and 15 weeks’ jail.
Hua was convicted on June 26, 2025 over selling vapes and fined $8,100.
On Feb 12, HSA prosecutor Debra Ann Tan sought a $3,000 fine for Rodrigues.
In mitigation, Rodrigues, who was unrepresented, said she was sorry for her actions and asked for a lighter sentence.
In sentencing, District Judge Ong Luan Tze said while a deterrent sentence was warranted for vaping offences, she wanted to ensure parity with Hua’s sentence, given that she was sentenced last June.
The Government toughened its stance towards vapes on Sept 1, 2025.
For abetting the sale of vapes, an offender can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.
