SINGAPORE, July 17 — A Singaporean man who tried to smuggle more than 1,800 e-vaporisers and pods into Singapore from Johor Bahru has been sentenced to two weeks’ jail, The Straits Times reported yesterday.
James Wong Jun Jie, 36, was caught during his second attempt at Woodlands Checkpoint in September 2024, when officers discovered the illicit haul hidden in the boot and bonnet of his car. Investigators later found another stash in his Sin Ming flat from an earlier undetected run.
He pleaded guilty to one charge under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. Three other similar charges were considered during sentencing.
According to court documents cited by The Straits Times, Wong was recruited earlier that year by a man known only as Raj, whom he met at the Mid Valley Southkey mall in Johor Bahru. Raj offered him RM600 per trip to smuggle e-vaporisers and pods into Singapore.
On September 10, 2024, Wong completed his first trip without being stopped. Emboldened, he attempted a second run two days later. He drove to Johor Bahru, parked at Mydin Mall, and left his car unlocked so that Raj’s associates could load it with vapes.
When he returned to Singapore around 11am on September 12, he was flagged by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers. They found 1,086 pods and 732 e-vaporisers in his car, which were handed over to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for investigation.
That same night, HSA officers raided his home and found an additional 1,320 pods and 679 vapes from the earlier smuggling trip. Wong had been waiting for Raj’s instructions to complete delivery by leaving the car unlocked at a carpark in Woodlands.
District Judge Wong Li Tein rejected Wong’s appeal for a lighter community-based sentence, stating: “The problem of vaping in Singapore is a serious one. So community-based sentences are not suitable.”
The Straits Times noted that Wong’s case comes amid a surge in enforcement to curb the growing vape problem in Singapore.
In May, HSA and the Ministry of Health said nearly 18,000 people were caught for possessing or using e-vaporisers between January 2024 and March 2025. Seizures during that period totalled S$41 million (RM135.6 million) — nearly five times the value of all seizures from 2019 to end-2023.
The HSA has also intensified prosecution efforts. In the same statement, the agency said it had prosecuted 27 people for failing to pay fines and took another 60 individuals to court for selling e-vaporisers. Two men involved in a major smuggling syndicate, Ivan Sin and Toh Wee Leong, received the harshest penalties so far — each fined over S$14,000 and sentenced to 10 months’ jail.
