He said he was unaware that vapes were banned in Johor.
“I’m just the manager of this store, but the owner never informed me that this was illegal,” he said.
He told CNA that nine out of 10 of his customers are Singaporeans and many pre-order in advance when new stock arrives.
Experts told CNA that stores like these, including those at B-point, have exploited loopholes in state law by registering for licenses to sell other products, but that They would also offer vaping products as an important part of their business.
Dr Leevyadhashiny Ganasan, a medical doctor and head of community health at the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM), told CNA that such cases are inevitable as the vaping business is lucrative and businessmen would exploit gladly any legal loophole to continue selling.
“If they ban this and close the loopholes, companies will find other ways to sell their products. From a public health perspective, the challenge is to keep it clean and eradicate all these (gaps),” Dr Ganasan said.
A large customer base of these companies are Singaporeans.
Johor’s southern neighbor banned the consumption and sale of vapes in 2018.
According to statistics released by Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA), 3,840 people were arrested for possessing or using vapes in the third quarter of this year. . an increase of 52 percent compared to the previous quarter.
The ICA and HSA said they conducted several joint operations at air, sea and land checkpoints for monitoring purposes.
Under the Tobacco Act, possession, use or purchase of e-vaporizers, or vapes, in Singapore is punishable by a maximum fine of S$2,000 (US$1,493).
It is also an offense to import, distribute, sell or offer for sale vapes and their components.
A person convicted of this offense may be fined up to S$10,000 and imprisoned for up to six months, or both, for the first offence. The maximum fine and prison sentence are doubled in the event of a repeat offense.
On the eastern side of Johor Bahru, in Pasir Gudang, CNA visited a store marked on Google Maps as a “store selling vapes near me”.
The store, located on the second floor along a row of shops, had no signage. It was listed as office space in the building directory. The store was also locked from the inside, but CNA was allowed entry by the store manager who wanted to be known only as “Edge.”
