SINGAPORE: A man who manufactured illegal electronic vaporiser pods containing etomidate, or Kpods, with the intent to sell them was sentenced to 16 months' jail on Tuesday (Aug 26) in the first case of its kind.

The case came to the attention of the authorities when a Lalamove deliveryman collecting a parcel for delivery found vape pods inside and handed the items to the police.

Mohammed Akil Abdul Rahim, a 41-year-old Singaporean, had pleaded guilty to three charges linked to the vape pods and related components, and one charge of making a false statement in a passport application.

Four other charges were taken into consideration.

In sentencing, Deputy Principal District Judge Ong Chin Rhu said the prevalence of etomidate-laced e-vaporisers pointed starkly to a need for general deterrence.

She said a recent study conducted by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) showed that about a third of randomly sampled vapes confiscated from the public tested positive for etomidate.

In the first half of this year, etomidate was also detected in half the cases involving the smuggling and peddling of vapes from Malaysia, with the number of etomidate-laced pods ranging from "eight to an alarming 4,535", said Judge Ong.

She said offences of this nature affect public safety and health, with the "potentially devastating effects of etomidate abuse" already apparent.

She pointed to HSA's arguments, which stated that over the period from January 2024 to May 2025, etomidate had been detected in the biological samples of 21 unnatural death cases, which could have contributed to the deaths.

Judge Ong said Mohammed Akil was "not a mere seller of etomidate or pods containing the same", but was "actively engaged in processing or packaging the substance", transforming a substance that was meant for intravenous medical use "into a form that facilitates abuse by inhalation through a vaping device".

"Furthermore, there was a transnational element in the offence and the case bore the hallmarks of the involvement of a syndicate," said Judge Ong. "To recapitulate, the accused was operating under the instructions of someone named 'Joe', whom he met in Malaysia to serve customers in Singapore."

THE CASE

Mohammed Akil, who has been remanded since June, met Joe at a mall in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

He said that Joe offered him a job preparing Kpods for customers in Singapore. The materials required - such as e-liquid, empty pod casings and bottles of etomidate powder - would be couriered to Mohammed Akil's home for mixing and filling.

He was to keep the filled pods at home to prepare for upcoming orders.

Joe would link Mohammed Akil with potential customers, and Mohammed Akil was paid S$10 (US$7.80) for each pod he prepared and provided to them.

Mohammed Akil made 100 K-pods in his first order. On Dec 11, 2024, he received a WhatsApp message for his second order of 100 pods. He placed the pods in a paper bag outside his unit, together with boxes of vaporisers without pods.

Mohammed Akil then asked the customer, identified only as "Beast", to get someone to collect the goods.

However, when part-time Lalamove deliveryman Mohammad Shalie Abdul Razak collected the parcel, he saw that it contained vape devices and reported it to the police.

Health Sciences Authority (HSA) officers went to Mohammed Akil's home later that day and found a bag of white powder in the kitchen, along with other tools for creating the Kpods.

The bag of powder weighing 26.4g was analysed and found to contain etomidate, a poison listed under the Poisons Act. Etomidate is set to be classified as a Class C Drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act from Sep 1.

The substance is a hypnotic used intravenously for general anaesthesia and is not meant to be inhaled. An overdose can cause deep sedation, and side effects include nausea, vomiting and uncontrollable muscle movement.

Case reports of patients using etomidate-infused e-cigarettes have shown that inhalation of the substance can induce psychiatric symptoms such as mood swings and increased impulsivity that can lead to suicide attempts and aggression.

It can also lead to hypertension, excessive levels of male sex hormones and altered consciousness.

Mohammed Akil admitted during investigations that he decided to prepare and sell the Kpods because he knew that etomidate was not a Class A, B or C controlled drug at the time. He was also aware that it was a poison under the Poisons Act.

Investigations revealed that the 26.4g bag of powder found in his kitchen could have been used to fill about 72 pods.

HSA prosecutor Yang Ziliang had sought 12 to 15 months' jail for Mohammed Akil and ICA prosecutor Boo Zhi Ying asked for six to eight weeks' jail for the charge involving the passport.

Mohammed Akil had lied in his passport application by claiming he had lost it, when in fact it had been impounded by the authorities pending investigations against him.

He managed to obtain a new passport and travelled overseas on multiple occasions in order to visit his girlfriend in Malaysia and settle banking matters.

He was arrested at Woodlands Checkpoint in June and remanded.

Mr Yang had sought "a new approach to sentencing" to fully address the danger and harm posed by the Kpod offences, noting this was the first prosecution for vapes containing etomidate.

"Despite the greater education efforts and increased sentences imposed by the courts, the situation has not improved and has even worsened with these dangerous etomidate-laced e-vaporisers," he said.

ASKED FOR SECOND CHANCE

In mitigation, Mohammed Akil accepted full responsibility for his actions and apologised for his mistake.

He said he had committed the offences "without any malicious intent", but out of desperation as he was jobless and needed money to support his family.

He said his judgment was "clouded" when he accepted the offer to pack and deliver the etomidate without fully understanding the gravity of his actions.

He asked for a second chance and urged the court to consider the impact on his children, should he be incarcerated for a lengthy period.

Judge Ong said she had no reason to doubt that Mohammed Akil was going through "challenging personal and financial circumstances" at the time, but said that the law was clear that such circumstances carry very little, if any, mitigating value.

"The whole purpose of the law is to maintain order and discipline," she said. "And that is most necessary precisely when the citizen might be inclined to act to the prejudice of good order."

She said the hardship caused to his family as a result of his incarceration was "the unavoidable consequence" of his conviction for the crimes he had committed and would not justify a reduction of the sentence in the absence of exceptional circumstances.

After sentencing, Mohammed Akil tried to ask for his phone back but was told it had been used for the offence and would be forfeited.

When this was explained to him, he said: "Then never mind lah. Since (the HSA prosecutor) wants so much the phone, I give it to him lah."

First Kpod sentence: Man who made etomidate vapes at home for sale given 16 months' jail