E-cigarette peddlers fined S$95,500 for illegal sale

SINGAPORE: The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has taken enforcement action against the illegal sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in Singapore and seized 490 sets of e-cigarettes worth an estimated S$25,000 from three peddlers.

The peddlers, two men and one woman, were prosecuted in February, March and April this year for the online sale of e-cigarettes, which is prohibited in Singapore. For committing these offences, the three peddlers were convicted in court and fined a total of S$95,500.

All three peddlers purchased the products separately from overseas suppliers and offered them for sale locally via websites.

HSA said the three cases were detected through its online surveillance and enforcement activities, which are targeted at deterring the illegal trade of e-cigarettes in Singapore.

All three websites that were managed by the peddlers to sell the e-cigarettes have been shut down.

Boo Yee Fong, 32, who was handed the stiffest penalty to date for selling e-cigarettes, was fined S$64,500 on April 17. In the other two cases, Chew Yew Yee, 36, and Lew Ying Ying, 29, were fined S$10,000 and S$21,000 respectively.

The three offenders had obtained the illegal products from overseas suppliers located in China, Italy and the United States.

Since 2011, HSA has prosecuted eight persons for selling e-cigarettes.

HSA reminds the public that under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisement and Sales) Act, the import, distribution, sale or offer for sale of any article that is designed to resemble a tobacco product are prohibited. This includes vaporisers such as e-cigarettes, e-pipes, e-cigars and the likes.

Anyone convicted of such an offence is liable to a fine of up to S$5,000 for a first offence, and a fine not exceeding S$10,000 for a second or subsequent offence and any e-cigarettes imported will be seized and confiscated.

- CNA/ac

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BuiKia said:

Does this mean consumption or possession is not an offence?

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