Summary
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Han Xiaoyang was fined S$560,000 after pleading guilty to seven charges involving customs duty evasion on 28,236 bottles of beer.
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The 47-year-old Chinese national failed to pay the fine and will instead serve 164 days in jail.
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Singapore Customs seized 35,060 bottles of duty-unpaid beer during an operation and follow-up searches in November 2025.
SINGAPORE: A 47-year-old Chinese national has been fined S$560,000 for helping bring duty-unpaid beer into Singapore through false declarations.
Han Xiaoyang (Han) pleaded guilty on Sep 4, 2026, to seven charges of fraudulent evasion of duty. The charges involved about S$60,127 in duty evaded on 28,236 bottles of beer.
Han didn’t pay the fine, so he will serve 164 days in jail instead. The court also considered 15 other charges involving duty and GST evasion during sentencing; Singapore Customs reported the case on the same day.
Beer was declared as other goods to avoid duties
Investigations found that Han planned the scheme in August 2025. He wanted to import beer from China, store it in Singapore and sell it for profit.
He instructed Tong Baobao, a 29-year-old Chinese national, to work with a freight forwarder in China. The beer was falsely declared as non-dutiable goods, including food items and industrial machinery.
The shipments were then sent to Wan Changya International Pte Ltd, a Singapore-incorporated company used in the scheme.
Tong was the company’s general manager and followed Han’s instructions. He arranged for the beer to be stored before deliveries to customers in Singapore were made.
Customs officers found more than 35,000 bottles
The scheme came to light during a Customs operation on Nov 19, 2025.
Officers saw two workers moving a liquor consignment into a unit in an industrial building along Tagore Lane. They inspected it and found 4,044 bottles of duty-unpaid beer.
The workers identified Tong as the person in charge. He was later arrested when he arrived at the building.
Follow-up searches uncovered another 31,016 bottles. That brought the total seized to 35,060 bottles.
The accomplice was fined S$322,000 over S$39,517 in evaded customs duty
Tong was sentenced on May 4, 2026, for his role in the scheme. He pleaded guilty to three charges involving about S$39,517 in evaded duty.
Tong was fined S$322,000 but didn’t pay the fine. He instead served 80 days in jail.
Seven other charges were also taken into consideration during his sentencing. These involved further duty and GST evasion.
Singapore law treats the handling of duty-unpaid liquor as a serious offence. Convicted offenders can face fines of up to 20 times the duty and GST evaded, along with up to 12 months’ jail.
The case demonstrates why attempts to cut import costs through false declarations can become very expensive. A lawful import may cost more upfront, but trying to avoid the rules can bring a far heavier bill.
Read more: Chinese national woman, 57, gets 6 months’ jail + S$2.5K fine for overstaying in Singapore for more than 22 years
