On Nov 19, 2025, Customs officers conducted an operation at an industrial building along Tagore Lane, where they observed two workers moving a consignment of liquor into a unit.
The consignment was found to contain 4,044 bottles of duty-unpaid beer. The workers identified Tong as the person-in-charge, and he was arrested after arriving at the building later.
During follow-up searches, Customs officers uncovered and seized an additional 31,016 bottles of duty-unpaid beer.
“Investigations revealed that Han had conceived and orchestrated a scheme to import duty-unpaid beer from China into Singapore through false declarations,” said Customs.
“To carry out the scheme locally, he used a Singapore-incorporated company and directed Tong to act on his instructions.”
In August 2025, Han informed Tong of his plan to import the duty-unpaid beer from China for storage and sale in Singapore. The scheme was designed to evade duties on the beer, thereby increasing sale profits.
Han instructed Tong to liaise with a freight forwarder in China to falsely declare the beer as non-dutiable items such as food items or industrial machinery.
Han then purchased the beer in China, which was delivered to the freight forwarder and exported to WCI in Singapore under false declarations.
Tong subsequently arranged for the imported duty-unpaid beer to be stored in WCI’s warehouse or storage units before it was delivered to WCI customers in Singapore.
Those found guilty of buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing in duty-unpaid liquor can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded. Offenders may also be jailed for up to 12 months.