PUBLISHED ONSeptember 04, 2026 2:40 PMBYSean LerA man who was caught with a vaporiser at Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 2, 2025, and later found to be peddling Kpods and other illicit drugs, was sentenced to two years' jail and two strokes of the cane on Friday (Sept 4).
Basil Wang Zhuang Zhen, 24, who was first charged on Dec 4 last year — under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) — pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking Kpods.
Etomidate, which was then temporarily listed as a Class C controlled drug under the Act, has since been delisted and placed under a new category in the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act called "specified psychoactive substance".
Court documents seen by AsiaOne stated that Wang was driving into Singapore via Woodlands Checkpoint at about 8pm when he was stopped by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers for a search of his vehicle.
He was found with a disposable vaporiser and referred to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
Its officers found evidence of peddling activities on Wang's phone and he was escorted back to his Marsiling flat.
There, a total of 33 vaporisers and pods, 104 bottles of cough syrup as well as prescription medicines including over 3,500 tablets of diazepam and codeine phosphate were seized.
Diazepam is an anti-anxiety medicine, while codeine is used to relieve cough.
In a release on Dec 4 last year after he was charged, HSA had said that Wang intended to sell 28 of the vape pods, along with all the cough syrup and all the prescription tablets.
He is accused of purchasing the Kpods from a supplier through Telegram for the price of $30 to $40 each.
Wang was found to have made such purchases five times prior and resold them.
He also advertised the other illicit medicines and cough syrup for sale on Telegram.
Importers, sellers and distributors of etomidate e-vaporisers now face stiffer penalties under the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act.
If convicted, importers can be jailed for three to 20 years and receive five to 15 strokes of the cane, while sellers and distributors can be jailed for two to 10 years and receive two to five strokes of the cane.
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