SINGAPORE: While waiting to begin his National Service, a 20-year-old gentleman took up a part-time work packing improper electric vaporisers and components for shipping.
However, he was arrested when the government busted a inventory system used to store over 130, 000 pieces of e-cigarettes and over 60, 000 pieces of smoke pods worth S$ 3.1 million ( US$ 2.3 million )- Singapore’s largest like arrest to time.
Tan Teck Jin, age 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing cigarettes and vaporizers for sale under the Tobacco ( Control of Advertisements and Sale ) Act.
Attorneys for Tan sought parole for him, citing his young age at the time, grief, and accomplishments in Na and as a regional fighting champion.
According to Tan’s doctors, Mr Tang Shangwei and Mr Warren Tian from WongPartnership, Tan graduated from Singapore Polytechnic around September 2022 after completing his studies in legal engineering and business.
He wanted to find a part-time work to make pocket money and self-fund his education as a fighting athlete, the attorneys said.
He was told he could find S$ 20 per minute for shipping goods from 9am to 6pm on Mondays and Fridays when he learned about an opportunity to earn some money from a friend.
In December 2022, Tan started function, joining other packing in a inventory component in Mandai.
He was instructed to follow procedures like receiving directions using a laptop’s Telegram bill.
He was responsible for packing the items that were ordered in the supply order, occasionally assisting in printing details from each purchase onto package labels.
After each attempt was packed, they were handed over to a pilot by the name of Cat. The pilot did hand the packages to shippers who would then deliver them to customers.
The riders frequently took money and gave it to Cat for the collection.
Tan was paid about S$ 3, 000 for the month of January 2023. He claimed that his income was once taken from Malaysia on one event and that he was paid in cash.
Six people were detained by the police for using e-cigarettes and other items in a multi-storey car park at Block 592, Montreal Link, on the evening of March 28, 2023.
A team of health sciences authority ( HSA ) officers was dispatched to the warehouse unit in Mandai after the products were traced there.
At around 3.40am the following morning, the authorities seized an accomplice, View Hong Jian, outside the Mandai system.
They raided the system, uncovering copy marijuana products and related components. Tan and five people were detained that day when he arrived for “work.”
The entire city worth of the seized goods was S$ 3, 121, 328. A notebook and a few handphones were also taken.
According to criminal tests, the products were used to communicate with customers on WhatsApp and Telegram, including the discourse of purchase pricing, payment techniques, and the dates of orders.
More studies revealed that users ‘ bills were being made to Malaysian companies to pay suppliers it.
MITIGATION
Tan’s attorneys sought parole for the children.
Mr. Tang claimed that when he was first told about the job, Tan was” not specifically told what he had to do nor did he ask about it,” but that he now realizes that this was” completely short-sighted”
He “merely clocked in and clocked out,” the attorney claimed.” He merely clocked in and clocked out.” Teck acknowledges that “ignorance” is not a defense, but that was his culture at the time.
Mr. Tang claimed that his client was not directly involved in the management or control of the unit’s businesses, and that his job was” just to pack the products.”
Tan has been taking up part-time work since he was 16 years old to “expand his information” and because he did not want to load his parents economically, said the attorney.
These functions included sales producer, warehouse pack, banquet attendant, cook and store attendant.
The attorney added that there is no proof as to the exact number of goods that Tan packed before being sold, but that the figure may be “drastically less” than the amount seized” which was basically a stockpile.”
Mr. Tang claimed that this was Tan’s second offense and that the studies” served as a wake-up contact for him to change for the better”
Tan has since started NS, working as a special officer with a” brilliant service record” in the Singapore Police Force, according to Mr. Tang, who also has an attached letter from his program manager.
” Having seen and combatted murder for the past 1.5 times, his position against crime has been even more resolute”, said Mr Tang.
Different than NS, Tan has also been training in fighting, winning the current Singapore Boxing Federation’s 2024 National Championship in January, said Mr Tang.
” It is clear from the above that Teck Jin’s path for restorative progress is promising”, he said.
Sentence was postponed until November 5.