Man who imported stun gun into Singapore jailed 5 days, fined $3,000
SINGAPORE — A man who imported a stun gun resembling a flashlight was jailed for five days and fined $3,000 after an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer found the suspicious item in the mail.
It was not the first time Sak Yong Meng, who was jailed on Tuesday (24 November), had brought a weapon into Singapore. Two years ago, the Singaporean man also brought into Singapore toy guns and a “hard plastic stick” which he bought from a shop and won as a prize from an arcade game in Taipei. He was fined $7,000 then.
Sak, 40, pleaded guilty to importing a stun gun into Singapore without a valid license on 28 January this year with another similar charge taken into consideration for sentencing. As Sak did not pay the $3,000 fine, he would serve an additional five days.
On 19 January this year, Sak ordered a black stun gun that resembled a flashlight through a mobile application known as “Wish” for $20. The item was listed as a “stun fun” which had a “3 in 1 self-defense electric shock portable LED flashlight laser tazer (sic)”.
He then ordered three other stun guns, two pepper sprays and a spring crowbar, which is a self-defence weapon, from the same source.
The item was shipped from China to Singapore and went through Singapore Post Centre on 28 January this year, when an ICA officer discovered it. While inspecting incoming international parcels to Singapore through an X-ray machine, she saw the suspicious package, which contained what appeared to be a stun gun.
She made a police report stating Sak’s registered address. The stun gun was later seized and sent to the Force Armament Branch, where it was tested to be serviceable and capable of generating spark. When in use, it would have inflicted pain and shock, temporarily incapacitating or injuring an individual.
After Sak was traced, he admitted to importing the stun gun for his own personal collection despite being aware of the restrictions on importing arms into Singapore without a valid license.
Speaking through an interpreter, Sak said that he was divorced with an 11-year-old son whom he is living with. Asking for a short in-default sentence, Sak said that he had been unemployed for three years and could not afford to pay the fine.
For importing any gun, arms, explosives, poisonous or noxious gas or noxious substance without a license, Sak could have been jailed up to three years and fined $10,000.
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