Jail for private-hire driver who smuggled vapes to S’pore

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.