The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has caught a 19-year-old man for illegally selling cigarettes through online platforms, without a tobacco licence.
The Tobacco Regulation Branch had detected the illegal activity during one of its regular cyber surveillance checks. On 10 January, HSA officers conducted enforcement operations and caught the seller who had advertised the sale of cigarettes on an online platform at the price of S$10 per packet.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the seller and three of his friends had stolen 48 packets of cigarettes from a supermarket and tried to resell them over the Internet.
Eight packets of Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarettes were found at the seller’s residence during the check.
The suspect is currently assisting the Singapore Police Force and the Health Sciences Authority with investigations.
It is an offence under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act to import, distribute, sell or offer for sale, or have in possession for sale any tobacco products without the valid tobacco licences. Anyone caught selling tobacco products without a licence is liable, on a conviction in Court, to a maximum fine of up to S$10,000.
Anyone convicted with the offence of Theft in Dwelling under Section 380 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine.
HSA encourages members of the public who have information on the illegal sale of tobacco products to call the Tobacco Regulation Branch at Tel: 66842036 or 66842037 during office hours.