SWIMMING club employee was arrested on Sunday after being caught red-handed selling fake off-peak supplementary licences at a bus stop at Block 150, Petir Road, police said in a press conference yesterday.

The 33-year-old man is believed to have sold about 1,400 of such licences since February.

He printed them in Vietnam.

Posting advertisements on Internet social networking websites such as Friendster and Facebook, the suspect sold the licences in stacks of 22 for $300 instead of the usual $440.

He ran a pyramid scheme of six runners, who helped him deliver the fake licences and place flyers - which claimed that he had just sold his car and had unused licences for sale - on the windscreens of off-peak cars.

Off-peak cars can be driven before 7am and after 7pm on weekdays, after 3pm on Saturday and whole day on Sunday.

To drive at other hours, off-peak car owners have to buy supplementary licences at $20 each.

The differences between the fake and actual licences were subtle - the fake had more faded colours, thicker wavy lines in the background, and only six serial numbers instead of eight.

Police revealed a few people had asked the suspect about the colour difference, but were told that this was due to the licences coming from an old stock.

The police had received eight reports from victims, the first of which was made on April 13.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had also received six.

Through "intelligence exchange" with LTA and "a lot of interviews and groundwork", police caught him as he was handling a transaction on Sunday, and recovered from his home 500 pieces of fake licences, a jacket and cap which he wore when he met up with victims, and $28,990 cash.

LTA vehicle and transit licensing group director Jeremy Yap advised off-peak car owners to purchase the licences only from the LTA, Automobile Association of Singapore and Singapore Post outlets.

If convicted, the suspect could be jailed for up to 10 years.