SINGAPORE – A man worked for
an alleged key syndicate
member
to manage a vape business from a warehouse unit, where authorities discovered over 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 had worked for Malaysian Chua Wee Ming, 34, described as “the co-owner of the vape syndicate” in court documents, 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 that 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 also 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 had 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 being 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.
