Man jailed for conducting surveillance on HSA's S$6 million vape stash, fleeing accident scene on foot

SINGAPORE: A man agreed to help his friend climb down into a unit to steal vaporisers and related components worth more than S$6 million (US$4.7 million) from a stash seized by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

They went down to the warehouse to conduct surveillance, but were caught by HSA officers and arrested.

Elvin Suriaganandhan, a 23-year-old Singaporean, got into a traffic accident just days later, crashing into guard railings and panicking before fleeing on foot.

He was sentenced on Monday (Aug 25) to jail for six weeks and 10 days and banned from driving for 12 months.

He pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by conducting surveillance and two other traffic offences, with another three charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that HSA had seized at least 189,010 vaporisers and 351,223 related components by a Chua Wee Ming, who allegedly imported the products into Singapore for distribution.

Chua, a 34-year-old Malaysian, has been remanded since October 2024 and has multiple charges pending against him.

HSA held the goods in custody at a warehouse, with the exact location under a gag order by the court.

The street value of the items amounted to at least S$6,529,600. The items were meant to be evidence for future prosecution of offences under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act by HSA.

Around Mar 25, 2024, Chua reached out to a Lim Zhi Wei, enlisting his help to climb down from a unit on the 10th floor to steal the products in exchange for S$20,000.

Lim then asked Elvin to help him, and Elvin agreed. He knew that the goods had been seized by HSA in the course of its investigations against Chua.

Around 3.30pm on Mar 26, 2024, Lim and Elvin went to the warehouse, intending to conduct surveillance so they could execute the theft that night.

Another man, Chee Wai Yuen, had been sent to the warehouse a few days earlier to conduct similar surveillance but was caught by HSA.

Lim and Elvin went to the 10th floor and saw that the unit was occupied. They went one floor down to conduct surveillance and saw an HSA officer.

Retracing their steps, the two men went back to the 10th floor but were stopped by HSA officers.

Elvin was arrested that day and released on court bail two days later.

More than a week later, on Apr 9, 2024, he was driving along Tampines Avenue 1 at around 6am when he drove at a relatively high speed while turning left.

Elvin lost control of his car, skidded and cut across three lanes before colliding with guard railings along Tampines Avenue 10, ripping off the front of his car.

He panicked and ran home, leaving the car behind him.

A witness to the collision stopped his car and called the police when he saw Elvin running away.

The prosecutor sought a jail term of between one month, two weeks and 11 days and two months and 17 days for Elvin, along with a driving ban of 12 to 18 months.

For the obstructing justice charge, he noted that this was a relatively serious case due to the number of vapes and components involved.

Elvin's lawyer said there was a low degree of sophistication and premeditation, and cited the case of ex-minister S Iswaran, where the starting point of the jail term was ameliorated because the offender's actions did not have an adverse outcome on the course of justice.

He said Elvin was a young man at the age of 23 and had a bright future ahead of him. He said Elvin was taking care of his mother and had "multiple responsibilities".

The judge asked what Elvin was currently doing for employment and was told he is a delivery driver.

For obstructing justice, he could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.