Man, 30, entering Woodlands Checkpoint in rental car with mother & niece, 4, allegedly had 1,989 etomidate vape pods in car

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has charged a 30-year-old man, Muhamad Khairuddin Bin Abdullah, in court on Jan. 22, 2026, for allegedly trafficking almost 2,000 etomidate e-vaporiser pods.

According to an HSA press release, this marks the largest haul of etomidate e-vaporiser pods that HSA has seized in an operation to-date since etomidate was classified as a Class C controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act on Sep. 1, 2025.

Detained

This comes after the accused was detained by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on the night of Jan. 20, 2026, while entering Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint in a rental car with his 63-year-old mother and four-month-old niece.

After ICA officers discovered 1,989 e-vaporiser pods concealed in two boxes in the car boot, HSA was alerted and conducted a raid at the accused's residence on the same day, which yielded three regular e-vaporiser pods.

The accused's case has since been adjourned to Mar. 5, 2026.

Penalties

HSA noted in the release that since the enhanced penalties framework took effect on Sep. 1, 2025, importers, sellers and distributors of etomidate e-vaporisers now face stiffer penalties.

This includes three to 20 years' jail and five to 15 strokes of the cane for importers, as well as two to 10 years' jail and two to five strokes of the cane for sellers and distributors.

Top photos via HSA press release