Prosecution seeks up to 4 weeks’ jail for man who imported toy guns that look like real firearms
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 20 Aug 2024
Author: Shaffiq Alkhatib
Liu Huijian was convicted after a 43-day trial that began in 2021 of unlawfully importing at least one toy gun into Singapore.
A man who illegally imported toy guns that looked like real firearms into Singapore was caught in 2018 after a Grab driver hired to deliver some toy gun parts to a buyer reported the suspicious goods to his company.
Two police raids of Liu Huijian’s home uncovered more than 150 of such toy guns or their parts. The Singaporean was convicted after a 43-day trial that began in 2021 of unlawfully importing at least one toy gun into Singapore.
At a sentencing hearing on Aug 19, 2024, Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie urged District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz to sentence Liu, 44, to between two and four weeks’ jail, stressing that the items resembled real firearms.
He told the court that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) had found that at least one of the toy guns, which fired plastic pellets, carried a risk of causing eye injuries.
When asked to give his mitigation plea on Aug 19, Liu, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the judge to refer to his “final submissions” but did not give any details. He will be sentenced on Oct 25.
He had also refused to take the stand during his trial, and did not call on any witnesses in his defence.
The prosecution had told the court that Liu said in a police statement that he purchased “50 plus” guns through Taobao, a China-based retail platform, which were delivered to his Singapore home via a logistics company.
Liu sold the toy guns and toy gun parts – imported without a permit from the Commissioner of Police – on Carousell in what DPP Cheah called “a home-based business”.
A buyer, identified as Mr Kui Jun Hua, had purchased toy gun parts from Liu via Carousell some time between the night of Nov 15, 2018, and around 9am the next day.
On Nov 16, 2018, Mr Kui engaged a Grab driver, Mr Tan Chee Pheow, to pick up the goods from Liu’s home in Sims Place and take them to Woodlands.
Mr Tan told the court during the trial that he was handed a box that purportedly contained items such as books and magazines.
He testified that he sensed something was amiss when he found that the box was heavy. He asked Liu to open the box and rejected the booking after spotting a gun-like object inside.
Liu then told Mr Kui over WhatsApp about what had happened, saying it was fortunate that the police were not called. He told the buyer he was “scared”, and asked him to arrange for a delivery man instead of a taxi.
However, Mr Kui made another Grab booking. The second driver accepted the parcel and was on an expressway when he received a phone call from a Grab operator telling him that it could contain a gun.
The driver then took it to the nearest police station, Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional Headquarters, where a pellet gun was found inside the box. Three officers then raided Liu’s home.
The DPP told the court: “The three officers discovered a trove of toy guns and related accessories. (One of them went back to the headquarters in a) police car, before returning in a police van to facilitate the seizure of the large number of relevant items.
“After seizing as many items as they could fit into the police van, the accused was arrested and the three officers (took) the seized items and the accused back to (the headquarters).”
Shortly after 11pm, Liu was taken out of a lock-up for a second raid at his home to seize the remaining toy guns and accessories that could not fit in the police van earlier that day.
Samples of the toy guns were later sent to agencies including the HSA, which found that they were spring- or battery-operated to shoot gel, rubber or plastic pellets.
Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.
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