A Chinese national who orchestrated a scheme to smuggle beer into Singapore by declaring shipments as food and industrial machinery was sentenced to 164 days in jail after failing to pay a S$560,000 (US$437,000) fine, authorities said.
Singapore Customs seized 35,060 bottles of duty-unpaid beer during an enforcement operation and subsequent searches. The seven charges admitted by 47-year-old Han Xiaoyang involved 28,236 bottles and about S$60,127 (US$47,000) in evaded duty.
Singapore Customs said Sept. 4 that Han had arranged to import the beer from China while evading customs duty and goods and services tax, or GST.
Han pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraudulent evasion of duty. Another 15 charges—four involving the evasion of duty and 11 involving the evasion of GST—were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Authorities did not disclose how many bottles were covered by the additional charges.
More Than 35,000 Bottles Seized
The case emerged from a Singapore Customs operation at an industrial building on Tagore Lane on Nov. 19, 2025. Officers found two workers moving a shipment of alcoholic beverages into one of the building’s units.
A search uncovered 4,044 bottles of duty-unpaid beer. The workers identified 29-year-old Chinese national Tong Baobao as the person in charge. Tong was arrested when he arrived at the building later that day.
Follow-up searches uncovered another 31,016 bottles, bringing the total seizure to 35,060.
Investigators found that Han had devised and organised a scheme to import duty-unpaid beer from China using false customs declarations. He used a Singapore-registered company to carry out the operation and instructed Tong to act on his directions, Singapore Customs said.
Tong was employed as general manager of Wan Changya International, or WCI. He was sentenced May 4, 2026, for his role in the scheme after pleading guilty to three counts of fraudulent evasion of duty.
He was fined S$322,000 (US$251,000) but served 80 days in jail after failing to pay. Another seven charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Beer Declared as Food and Machinery
After buying the beer in China, Han handed the shipments to freight forwarders for export to Singapore. Following his instructions, the forwarders falsely declared the beer as food products, industrial machinery and other goods to avoid the taxes imposed on alcohol imports.
Once the shipments arrived in Singapore, Tong arranged for the duty-unpaid beer to be stored in WCI warehouses or storage units before it was delivered to the company’s customers.
WCI had been operating for less than a year. Singapore corporate records show that it was incorporated on Feb. 7, 2025, with the wholesale of liquor, soft drinks and other beverages listed as its principal business. Its registered address was on Tagore Lane.
In August 2025, Han proposed importing duty-unpaid beer from China for storage and sale in Singapore, according to authorities. Customs officers found the beer at premises linked to WCI about three months later.
Less than 10 months elapsed between WCI’s incorporation and the enforcement operation. However, publicly available records do not show that the company was established specifically to evade alcohol taxes, and there is insufficient evidence to draw a direct link between its incorporation and the scheme.
Authorities have not identified the beer brands involved or said whether the freight forwarders faced criminal action.
How Singapore Taxes Beer
Singapore classifies beer, wine and spirits as dutiable goods. Imported beer is generally subject to customs duty, excise duty and GST, with customs and excise duties calculated according to the volume of alcohol rather than simply the value of the shipment.
Under current Singapore Customs rates, beer carries customs duty of S$16 (US$12.50) per litre of alcohol and excise duty of S$60 (US$46.80) per litre of alcohol—a combined S$76 (US$59.30). Imported goods are also subject to 9% GST.
A 330-millilitre bottle of beer at 5% alcohol by volume contains about 0.0165 litres of alcohol. At the applicable rates, customs and excise duties would total about S$1.25 (US$0.98) per bottle, excluding GST.
The final tax burden also depends on the beer’s taxable import value. Beer that meets rules of origin under a free trade agreement may qualify for preferential customs-duty treatment, but that does not automatically exempt it from excise duty.
The tax structure helps explain why Han instructed the forwarders to declare the shipments as food products and industrial machinery. Liquor is one of four categories of dutiable goods in Singapore, while most food products and industrial machinery do not attract customs duty.
Anyone involved in buying, selling, transporting, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or otherwise dealing in duty-unpaid liquor can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded and imprisoned for up to 12 months, Singapore Customs said.
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