{"id":2224,"date":"2025-07-07T13:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/man-conducted-surveillance-plotted-to-help-steal-seized-vapes-worth-6-5m\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T13:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:20:20","slug":"man-conducted-surveillance-plotted-to-help-steal-seized-vapes-worth-6-5m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/man-conducted-surveillance-plotted-to-help-steal-seized-vapes-worth-6-5m\/","title":{"rendered":"Man conducted surveillance, plotted to help steal seized vapes worth $6.5m"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div readability=\"79\">\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A man fled from Singapore to Malaysia by hiding in a lorry after he was charged over his role in a plan to steal vapes that had been seized by the authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On July 7, Chee Wai Yuen, 36, was sentenced to one year, one month and six weeks&rsquo; jail after pleading guilty to obstructing the course of justice and offences under the Immigration Act and Misuse of Drugs Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He had conducted surveillance on a warehouse used by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) to store seized vapes, which another man had planned to steal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">In March 2024, Chee was contacted by a man named Chua Wee Ming, who had imported vapes and its related components into Singapore for distribution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Chua&rsquo;s plans were foiled when HSA seized his products and stored them at a warehouse. The location of the warehouse cannot be named due to a gag order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Deputy Public Prosecutor Xavier Tan said the warehouse held at least 189,010 vapes and 351,223 components, which had a combined street value of more than $6.5 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">The DPP added that the vapes and its components were evidence for future prosecution of offences under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act by the HSA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Chua told Chee to conduct surveillance to check if any HSA officers were guarding the warehouse, as Chua had plans to steal the items.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On March 23, 2024, at around 10pm, Chee drove and parked at the carpark of the warehouse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">When he went to one of the units of the warehouse, three HSA officers asked him why he was there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Chee lied that he was at the wrong location and tried to leave. As he was driving out of the warehouse, he was stopped by HSA officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Drugs were found in his car and he was arrested.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On March 28, Chee was charged in court and was released on court bail on April 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He then contacted Chua, who had previously assured him that he would arrange for someone to smuggle him out of Singapore if he got arrested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Chee was then given an address in Tuas, where he was told to look for a yellow lorry. He later fled to Malaysia by hiding behind the driver&rsquo;s seat of the lorry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">After he failed to attend his next court mention in April, a warrant of arrest against him was issued. Chee was on the run for around six months before his arrest in Malaysia and extradition to Singapore in October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Chua&rsquo;s case is still before the courts, with his pre-trial conference scheduled on July 31.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Those convicted of obstructing the course of justice can be jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<p>Nadine Chua for The Straits Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub>Man conducted surveillance, plotted to help steal seized vapes worth $6.5m<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man fled from Singapore to Malaysia by hiding in a lorry after he was charged over his role in a plan to steal vapes that had been seized by the authorities. On July 7, Chee Wai Yuen, 36, was sentenced to one year, one month and six weeks&rsquo; jail after pleading guilty to obstructing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/man-conducted-surveillance-plotted-to-help-steal-seized-vapes-worth-6-5m\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Man conducted surveillance, plotted to help steal seized vapes worth $6.5m&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}