SINGAPORE: The leader of a contraband cigarettes syndicate was sentenced on Thursday (Mar 22) to five years and three months’ jail, and fined S$30 million for smuggling duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore.
Singapore Customs and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a joint media release that the man, 50-year-old Mok Chee Kin, was also given another five months’ jail term for bribing a Certis Cisco officer.
The sentence is the highest handed down by the State Courts for such offences. The previous record was a three years and six months’ jail, and a S$14 million fine given to another offender in 2014.
As Mok did not pay the court fine, he will serve a default sentence of another 30 months’ jail, bringing the total imprisonment term to eight years and two months, the authorities said.
Mok instructed Lee Helmi Iskandar Rosli, a 31-year-old Singaporean, to receive the shipment at the port.
Another Singaporean, 36-year-old truck driver Devinderan Arajinan, was tasked to collect the cigarettes at the port and deliver them to other parts of Singapore.
Lee and Devinderan were both arrested during the raid.
Mok and another man, 27-year-old Malaysian Rajeswaran Sandra, were nabbed a few days later. The latter’s role in the syndicate was to give bribes to a Certis Cisco senior protection officer to ensure that Devinderan would not be stopped for checks when he makes his exit out of Jurong Port.
