230k vapes and accessories seized in 2025; more than 59 large-scale vape smuggling cases detected

About 230,000 vapes and accessories were seized by Singapore authorities in 2025, with over 59 large-scale vape smuggling cases detected.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 3), Minister of State for Health Rahayu Mahzam said that cross-border vape supply chains were disrupted through intelligence sharing between the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Central Narcotics Bureau and the Singapore Police Force, with the help of their foreign counterparts.

Rahayu was responding to a question from MP Jackson Lam (Nee Soon) on how the Ministry of Health works with overseas platforms and foreign jurisdictions to disrupt cross-border vape chains.

The minister of state said that over 10,000 online advertisements on vape, including those found on messaging platforms, were removed in 2024 and 2025.

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) works with e-commence sites, social media and messaging platforms to remove online listings selling vapes, she added.

In a supplementary question, Lam asked about the proportion of the removed vape listings that were hosted on online platforms that were beyond Singapore’s jurisdiction.

Rahayu said that about 99 per cent of the online listings taken down were on foreign sites such as Facebook, Telegram, WeChat, Instagram, YouTube and Telegram.

The rest were from local platforms such as Carousell and Lazada.

She said the authorities will continue to look at how to improve enforcement efforts but "we are not without levers".

HSA uses bots to conduct surveillance daily, targeting commercial sites and trawling and identifying offending sites that have to be taken down, she added.

Rahayu said that the authorities also work on ad-hoc tip offs from members of the public and partner agencies.

"It’s not just about enforcement, but also about educating the public in understanding and reporting some of these sites that are available online."

Under the enhanced penalties introduced on Sept 1 last year, those convicted of importing vapes into Singapore will face a jail term of up to six months, a maximum fine of $10,000 or both for their first offence. 

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chingshijie@asiaone.com