Singapore arrests Thais for smuggling e-cigarettes

In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said over 400,000 e-cigarettes and their parts were found in a warehouse in the Woodlands Industrial Park, The Straits Times reported.

The seizure was the second-largest of its kind in the Southeast Asian country. Previously in March, over S$6 million worth of e-cigarettes and their parts were also seized by authorities.

Two Thai nationals, aged 22 and 30, were arrested during the warehouse raid and charged for illegally staying in Singapore. They are now being investigated for their association with the e-cigarette seizure, Channel News Asia reported.

The HAS said importing, distributing and selling e-cigarettes and their components are illegal, and violations can result in fines of up to S$20,000 or jail sentences of up to 12 months.

Singaporean authorities dealt with around 8,000 vaping-related violations last year, a 43% increase from 2022. From Jan. 1 to March 31, over 2,200 people were busted using and possessing e-cigarettes in the country.