Four men arrested for selling duty-unpaid cigarettes via WeChat
They sold duty-unpaid cigarettes to customers they had solicited via the WeChat app.
The four male Chinese nationals involved were arrested in separate Singapore Customs operations on Monday.
A total of 692 cartons, 171 packets and 13 sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized in the operations. The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded in these cases amounted to about $65,000 in all.
In the first case, three men were arrested. Singapore Customs officers arrested the first man in Bedok Reservoir Road.
Yesterday, Singapore Customs said the man was carrying a paper bag containing 10 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, which he was delivering to customers he had solicited via WeChat.
The officers conducted another raid at the man's residential unit in Jalan Eunos, where they found 170 cartons and 77 packets of cigarettes.
They then searched an HDB unit in Ubi Avenue 2, where officers uncovered more than 206 cartons and 35 packets of cigarettes. Two men in the unit were arrested. Investigations revealed that both men had also used WeChat to buy and re-sell cigarettes.
Court proceedings against the three men are ongoing.
On the same night, the fourth man, Zhu Yanqing, was arrested on Bedok Reservoir Road. He was carrying 12 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, which he was delivering to customers.
In a follow-up raid at an HDB flat in Pasir Ris Street 21, officers found another 294 cartons and 59 packets of cigarettes in Zhu's bedroom.
He was sentenced by the State Courts on Wednesday to 29 weeks' jail for storing and dealing with duty-unpaid cigarettes.
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