Vape syndicate ringleaders get jail after 58,000 products found in Lentor house, Canberra condo

They also handled the operation’s finances, such as tallying the day’s earnings, and handed over the earnings to money mules arranged by Nobody.

Lim was a distributor in Singapore whose job was to take stock, pack vapes for the daily orders and sort them for delivery. 

The distributors would hand over these packed orders to area distributors – the lowest rung in the syndicate who delivered the vapes and collected cash payments – and collect the earnings of the previous day.

Court documents showed that another Malaysia-based vape supplier introduced Wong to Nobody sometime in 2022.

Wong agreed to manage and distribute vapes in Singapore when Nobody was looking for someone for the role.

Wong was asked to be a syndicate leader and to recruit distributors to run the syndicate’s operations in a warehouse in Mandai.

From mid-2022 to December 2024, he recruited four Singaporeans: Adrian Chia Hong Qing, 33; Tan Boon Hao, 30; Teo Jin Rui, 29; and Tey Ler Wei, 30. 

From December 2024, Wong became a “sleeping partner”, handing over his duties as a syndicate leader to Tey. Although he stepped back from managing the warehouse, Wong continued to earn between S$5,000 and S7,000 a month.

Tan became a syndicate leader later in February 2025.

He roped in his wife to pack and distribute vapes for extra cash.  She signed a two-year tenancy agreement to rent a condominium unit for S$3,300 a month, which was used as the syndicate’s second storage unit managed by Tan.

Besides packing orders, Lim would hand the orders over to area distributors at a car park in Ang Mo Kio. At times, she would help pick up vapes from couriers as arranged by Nobody under Tan’s instructions.

TAN’S OTHER CRIMES

Tan had pocketed money from his employer by switching the bank accounts that would receive supplier and e-commerce payments.

Between Oct 1, 2023 and May 8, 2024, he was working as a human resource and finance assistant for Chocolate Origin, a chocolate and confectionery brand owned by parent company Dadaca.

Sometime around December 2023, Tan replaced the bank account numbers of Dadaca’s suppliers with his friend’s bank account, diverting about S$48,950 to it.

He also switched Dadaca’s bank account on its online e-commerce platforms to his own bank account, so that online orders would be paid to him instead. 

Between January and June 2024, he received about S$39,500. Court documents showed that he has not made restitution.

Tan also pleaded guilty to charges over a fight outside a club in Sim Lim Tower on Jun 12, 2023 at around midnight, as well as to unrelated traffic offences.

Four other men have been sentenced for their involvement in the syndicate, receiving jail terms ranging from 10 months to a year and five months, along with fines.

Apart from these, the cases against another six accused members are pending.

For being a member of a locally linked organised criminal group, a person can be jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$100,000, or both.

For conspiring to possess vapes for sale, an offender can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$10,000, or both.