From noodles to vape king
Before 8 October 2025, Malaysian drug trafficker Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was fighting for his life. The young man (born 1987) was arrested on 3 September 2014 at Woodlands Checkpoint and found to be carrying 51.84g of heroin. On 2 May 2017, Pannir was found guilty of drug trafficking by the High Court’s judge Lee Seiu Kin. He was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty.
Two Malaysian lawyers, Too Xing Ji and Lee Ji En, took on his case. In 2022, under the Freedom Film Festival a movie about Pannir’s case called Peluang Kedua (Second Chance) was released. Despite Minister Shanmugam’s justification of Pannir’s death sentence, significant numbers in Malaysian society, while not trying to downplay the severity of his crimes or reject the death sentence in their own country, felt that Pannir could be given a second chance.
His execution was originally scheduled on 24 May 2019, but he managed to postpone his execution pending a last-minute appeal to challenge the decision to not pardon him and also the prosecution’s decision to not certify him as a courier. This appeal ended in failure in February 2020, and also in November 2021. A second death warrant scheduled Pannir’s execution for 20 February 2025, but it was delayed due to another appeal. After losing his final appeal, Pannir was executed by hanging in Changi Prison on 8 October 2025.
Those of you who have been following my postings should know that I’m not against the death penalty. However, I don’t think drug mules should be punished as severely as the drug barons. Executing the latter cripples the trade. Executing folks like Pannir won’t. When I made this statement on FB, celebrity chef Benny Se Teo thought that I was being arrogant to think that it’s so “easy” to catch the big fish. Since when did I say that it’s easy to audit billionaires? In spite of their “footprint”, many seemed to have escaped our government’s radar.
A former engineering student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Ivan Tan Zhi Xuan, has been arrested in Malaysia. He is suspected of being the ringleader of a syndicate which tried to recruit students in South Korea to set up a distribution network for drug-laced vapes in Seoul.
Ex-NTU student who quit his studies to open bak chor mee stall, making the news, turns out to be an alleged ringleader of cocaine vape ring in Korea
A former engineering student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Ivan Tan Zhi Xuan, was arrested in Malaysia under suspicion of being the mastermind of a syndicate which recruited students in South Korea and operated a distribution network for cocaine and etomidate laced vapes in Seoul.
Tan, who is 31-years-old, had previously left NTU back in 2019 to run a bak chor mee stall in Ang Mo Kio, earning him respect from folks who praised him for taking the road less travelled.
Syndicate first detected by NIS
While vaping is legal in South Korea, there are several restrictions on their use and sales in the country. Those under 19 are not allowed to vape. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that the influx of vapes that are laced with etomidate is a serious threat to the health and safety of the public. They are already tracking the infiltration of international drug trafficking organisations into the country. Thailand and Hong Kong have also been cracking down on the drug. Though vaping is legal in South Korea, there are several restrictions on their use and sales in the country, including a ban on sales to anyone under 19.
Following the trail of a headhunting firm in Gangnam, Seoul authorities identified Tan as a prime suspect, with his travel records showing that he made multiple trips to South Korea from 2023. The NIS started to track his movements. The company that he had set up was merely a coverup for his crimes. Tan and three of his associates allegedly used the firm to recruit young South Koreans who had previously studied in Singapore.
According to New Straits Times (not our newsPAPer with a similar name), Malaysian law enforcement agencies arrested the four men in Selangor, Malaysia, on 19 June this year after a tip-off from NIS. The Royal Malaysia Police’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) said they found 10 boxes containing 4,958 units of liquid vape cartridges suspected to contain 9.42 litres of cocaine in a car. The stash is estimated to be valued at up to RM7.29 million (around S$2.2 million).
In a press conference on 23 June, the Malaysia police revealed that the syndicate is believed to rent luxury condominium units in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and package the drugs in the units before distributing them to other countries. If convicted, the four men could face the death penalty, or life imprisonment with caning. The case is pending before the Malaysian courts.
So how, Benny Se Teo? You claimed that catching these masterminds is not as easy as I thought (I’ve never said it’s easy) but here we are, facing an awkward situation of a Singaporean mastermind being caught by the Malaysian authorities while we only managed to execute a mule. Frankly, I see Ivan Tan’s crime to be much more serious than Pannir’s. Singaporeans deride Malaysians for supporting for Pannir. It doesn’t mean that we have higher moral standards. It simply means that we are colder and more calculative people. Such harshness should be reserved for folks like Ivan Tan and not Pannir in IMO.