SINGAPORE: A Singaporean citizen was arrested in Medan, Indonesia, over his suspected involvement in a home-based vape production ring that earned at least 10 billion rupiah (US$565,000), said the local police and anti-narcotics authorities.
The man identified by the initials TM is suspected of leading the production and distribution of vape products that were wrapped in Labubu doll-branded packages, the Medan Police Narcotics Unit said in a statement on June 10, referring to the popular elf-like plush toy collectibles.
The suspect, who ran the vape ring with an Indonesian woman identified by the initials MWQ, was arrested on May 17 in a Medan hotel where he was suspected to have been arranging for a shipment of raw materials.
His accomplice was arrested on the same day at a luxury residence in Kota Medan where the vapes were processed and packed, said the police.
A third suspect, who with TM helped market the vapes for distribution within Medan, the capital of North Sumatra in Indonesia, remains at large.
The residence in Kota Medan, which was rented for an estimated five million rupiah to seven million rupiah a month, was used as a production facility with a multi-layer security system that included facial and fingerprint recognition technology, said the police.
The Singaporean controlled drug distribution operations from his residence in Thailand and regularly supplied the Medan site with raw materials shipped from China, said Medan’s police.
The suspects used cryptocurrency in their transactions to mask the flow of funds and complicate tracing efforts, said the police, adding that the group had made an estimated profit of 10 billion rupiah since 2025.
A total of 862 vape cartridge tubes, dozens of vape bottles and more than 10,500 vape packages branded with Labubu images, which the group is believed to have used to market the drugs, were seized during the raid. - The Straits Times/ANN
