Bus driver jailed for smuggling e-cigarette components into S'pore

To supplement his income, a bus driver accepted a job to deliver ecigarette paraphernalia to Singapore.

- Claudia Tan

He was caught red-handed on July 8, 2025, by officers at Woodlands Checkpoint, who had noticed anomalies in the luggage compartment of the bus.

Mahendran K.V.K. Samy, 32, was sentenced to three months and one week's jail on Jan 7, after he pleaded guilty to one charge of importing the components of an imitation tobacco product.

Court documents stated that Mahendran, a Malaysian, was employed as a bus driver at a Malaysian transport company at the time of the offence.

His job was to ferry passengers between Malaysia and Singapore. He earned about RM2,500 (S$790) a month, which was not enough to sustain him and his family.

Two weeks before he was apprehended, Mahendran received a call from a private number, offering him a job to deliver e-cigarette paraphernalia to Singapore. He was offered RM2,000 in cash for a successful delivery.

Despite having never met the person on the line, Mahendran agreed to take the job.