A delivery job that paid up to S$4,000 a month has ended with 10 months in jail and a S$45,000 fine for a 34-year-old Singaporean.
Roy Tan Jun Jie was sentenced on Wednesday (19 August) for his role in a syndicate distributing electronic vaporisers imported from Malaysia.
The S$45,000 fine is the same amount Tan estimated he had earned during his time with the group. If he cannot pay it, he will have to serve another six weeks in jail.
Tan had pleaded guilty on 6 August to being a member of a locally linked organised criminal group and to possessing 31 vaporisers for sale.
He Earned S$10 Per Successful Vape Delivery
Tan joined the operation after a friend told him about a delivery job in October 2024.
He became what the syndicate called an area distributor, which placed him at the bottom of its three-tier structure.
Tan was assigned delivery areas with postal codes beginning with 3 and 4 and used his own car to make the trips.
For every successful delivery, he received S$10.
He typically completed between 15 and 30 orders a day, earning between S$3,000 and S$4,000 a month. He also earned commissions for placing orders on behalf of friends.
By the time his involvement ended, Tan estimated that he had made around S$45,000.
Prosecutors estimated that he delivered more than 10,000 vaporisers or related components during roughly a year with the group.
Orders Were Collected From an Ang Mo Kio Car Park
The syndicate operated with three levels.
Local leaders were at the top, followed by local distributors and area distributors such as Tan.
Court documents said the local leaders received instructions from a person known as “Nobody”, who was purportedly based in Malaysia.
Local distributors prepared and sorted orders before passing them to area distributors for the final deliveries.
The handovers usually took place at an open-air car park beside Block 605 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. According to CNA, distributors met there twice a day, at around 1pm and 6pm, to handle afternoon and evening orders.
The wider operation could fulfil between 105 and 210 orders of vaporisers and components each operating day.
Members used WhatsApp and Telegram to coordinate the business, with pseudonyms used in their chats. Tan went by the name “V”.
Syndicate Used Homes as Vape Warehouses
The group initially kept its stock at a location in Mandai Road.
In February 2025, it added a condominium unit in the Canberra area as another storage location as the operation expanded.
Two months later, the Mandai operation was moved to a rented terrace house in Lentor, leaving the group with the Lentor and Canberra locations.
The warehouses were used to hold stock, prepare orders and support deliveries of vaporisers and components brought in from Malaysia.
Authorities moved against the syndicate on 16 October 2025.
The Straits Times reported that nearly 20,000 vape-related items were seized from the Lentor house, while more than 38,000 were found at the Canberra property.
Nearly 58,000 products were recovered from the two locations in total, including almost 17,000 vaporisers.
Tan was arrested on the same day.
Defence Said He Was Only a Delivery Man
Prosecutors sought between 10 and 11 months’ jail and a S$45,000 fine.
Tan’s lawyers asked for six months instead, pointing out that he was a delivery man rather than someone who controlled the syndicate.
They said he had virtually no influence over its wider operations and described the case as his first brush with the law.
Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh also noted before sentencing that Tan was not a syndicate leader.
Tan was ultimately sentenced to 10 months’ jail and fined S$45,000.
According to The Straits Times, he was the first person from the group to admit his involvement. The cases involving 13 other members were still pending as of 19 August.
