By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent

A 28-YEAR-OLD man was fined $7,000 on Wednesday for importing three air-soft guns into Singapore without a permit.

Sak Yong Meng, who is self-employed, pleaded guilty to the offence at Changi Airport on April 27 last year. When he arrived from Taipeh that day at Terminal 1, his luggage was checked.

The X-ray machine showed images of guns and nanchaku - a pair of hard plastic sticks joined by a chain - in the main compartment of his luggage.

Sak said he had bought two toy guns worth $720 and the $19 nanchaku at a shop in Taipei. The third toy gun was won when he took part in a game at a fun arcade.

He could have been fined up to $100,000 or three times the value of the goods or jailed for up to two years or both.