SINGAPORE: The leader of a contraband cigarette syndicate peddling the goods to foreign workers was sentenced to jail for the offences and repatriated to Bangladesh.
However, he returned to Singapore illegally as he wanted to resume his business, paying a boatman to ferry him from Indonesia and swimming to shore after being dropped in the sea off Bedok.
He continued running his contraband cigarette syndicate and instructed his henchmen to abduct the leader of a rival business.
The lackeys abducted the wrong man, and police investigations uncovered his involvement.
Bangladeshi national Rahman Manzur, 36, was sentenced to 22 weeks’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Thursday (Mar 2) for one count under the Immigration Act of entering Singapore without a valid pass.
Another two charges of abduction by common intention and conspiracy to riot were taken into consideration.
The court heard that Rahman was charged in court in March 2020 for offences under the Customs Act.
He absconded and committed further offences while on the run.
He was re-arrested and in June 2021 sentenced to nine months and two weeks’ jail for dealing with contraband cigarettes.
After Rahman completed his sentence – with backdating from the time he was remanded considered – he was repatriated to Bangladesh in July 2021.
A year after this, Rahman decided to return to Singapore to continue his contraband cigarette business that used Bangladeshi nationals to peddle the illegal goods to foreign workers.
He knew that he could not enter Singapore because of his past conviction, so he booked air tickets to fly from Bangladesh to Malaysia and from there to Indonesia.
In Batam, Rahman contacted an unidentified boatman, who agreed to ferry him to Singapore via speedboat for S$1,500.
Rahman paid the fee and was ferried to Singapore waters sometime in July 2022.
He disembarked in the sea off Bedok and swam to shore before changing his clothes and taking a taxi to Kranji.
He resumed running his contraband business.
In September 2022, Rahman wanted to take over territory controlled by a rival syndicate so he could have exclusive sales there.
He instructed his henchmen on Sep 17, 2022 to abduct the leader of the rival syndicate.
However, his henchmen could not find the target and instead abducted the rival leader’s acquaintance, assaulting him.
The police received a call that same day informing them that a Bangladeshi national had been abducted.
Through their investigations, they identified Rahman and arrested him at a construction site on Sep 21, 2022.
For entering Singapore without a valid pass, he could have been jailed for up to six months and given at least three strokes of the cane. If he had not been given the caning, he would have received a fine of up to S$6,000.