11 former Certis officers convicted; they kept cigarettes dumped in HSA bins and seized vapes

SINGAPORE – Eleven former Certis Cisco enforcement officers were on July 10 convicted over accusations of misappropriating confiscated products or keeping stolen items such as vapes and contraband cigarettes.

The 11, which included a female former officer, had committed the offences when they were at the Health Sciences Authority’s (HSA) enforcement unit under the Tobacco Regulation Branch on a temporary transfer.

The former officers who were convicted are: Muhammad Khairul Izzul Shah Abdul Karim, 38; Muhammad Fitri Jaffar, 39; Muhammad Haziq Khamzah, 32; Nurazmy Yussof, 33; Sufian Mohamed, 45; Mohamad Aidil Abu Bakar, 47; Mohamed Fiaros Mohamed Zakaria, 43; Muhamad Hazim Mohamed Jalil, 34; Muhammad Faddley Abdul Wahid, 38; Muhammad Syafiq Tahar, 39; and Olivia Chan Wei Ying, 39.

A spokesperson for Certis said that the individuals involved in the case are no longer with the company.

“Certis does not condone such criminal acts and we expect our officers to uphold the highest level of discipline and professionalism,” the spokesperson added.

The cases, which started from 2021, involved HSA’s metal bins placed across Changi Airport terminals. The bins are for travellers entering Singapore to dispose of any illegal tobacco products without repercussions.

As part of their duties, Aidil and Syafiq were instructed to move the items collected into other bins, which would then be transported to the Tuas incineration plant.

The pair decided to keep some of the contraband cigarettes instead. Over two occasions in 2021, Aidil and Syafiq pocketed at least 12 cartons and 60 loose packets of contraband cigarettes valued at $900 in total.

The pair admitted to committing the same act on at least two other occasions in 2022, removing at least 12 cartons and 60 loose packets of contraband cigarettes valued at $900 in total.

In June 2021, Fitri was assigned to the same duty as Aidil and Syafiq. The trio pocketed at least 90 packets of contraband cigarettes valued at $450 in total.

They later pocketed another 90 packets of contraband cigarettes worth the same amount in January 2022.

Aidil and Syafiq then handed out some of the misappropriated contraband cigarettes to their colleagues, including Khairul, Yussof, Sufian and Faddley. Fitri admitted to giving some contraband cigarettes to Sufian.

Between Oct 11, 2021 and Oct 12, 2021, Syafiq was part of a raid conducted by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in Boon Lay.

He was tasked with seizing prohibited tobacco products found as part of the raid, and to pack the products and load them into a Certis van.

The court heard that the van had to make multiple trips between Boon Lay and Certis Cisco Bukit Timah as the seizure was significant.

During the last trip, Syafiq took at least 160 e-vaporisers and 55 packs of vape pods worth more than $10,000 for himself by hiding them in the van.

Syafiq was sentenced to two years’ jail and fined $4,000 after pleading guilty to four charges for criminal breach of trust, one for keeping uncustomed goods, and two for possessing imitation tobacco products.

Aidil was sentenced to one year and three months’ jail and fined $4,600 over three counts of criminal breach of trust, one for keeping uncustomed goods, and two for possessing imitation tobacco products.

Fitri, who pleaded guilty to two counts for criminal breach of trust and one for keeping uncustomed goods, was sentenced to one month and two weeks’ jail and fined $3,200.

The court heard that a number of the offenders had received contraband cigarettes at the Certis Cisco Bukit Timah carpark between 2021 and 2022.

They were convicted for dishonestly receiving stolen property.

Khairul was sentenced to 10 days’ jail, while Nurazmy received a three weeks’ jail sentence.

Sufian was sentenced to three weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to two counts for dishonestly receiving stolen property.

Faddley was sentenced to seven months’ jail and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust, one for dishonestly receiving stolen property, one for keeping uncustomed goods, and two for possessing imitation tobacco products.

Fiaros was sentenced to four months’ jail after pleading guilty to two counts for criminal breach of trust. He admitted to keeping more than 60 vape pods valued at more than $365 for himself while carrying out duties as part of HSA’s enforcement unit.

Hazim was sentenced to four months’ jail and fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to one count for criminal breach of trust and another for possessing imitation tobacco products.

Haziq was sentenced to two months and two weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.

Meanwhile, Chan was sentenced to five months’ jail after pleading guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust.

She had admitted to keeping at least one vape and two cartons of vape pods valued at $762 while she carried out her duties as part of HSA’s enforcement team during an October 2021 operation.

She also kept another vape and two more cartons of vape pods in a December 2021 operation, and gave two packs of vape pods to Syafiq and two packs of vape pods to Aidil.

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