SINGAPORE — He had contraband cigarettes and was behind the wheel of a red van he did not have a valid licence to drive.

When pulled over for further checks at a routine police road block last July, a 58-year-old man took officers on a "fast and furious" car chase around Geylang.

Chua Lim Teck knocked into three cars, crashed into a gantry and paid no heed to the safety of pedestrians as he turned onto at least 10 roads, at times going against the flow of traffic.

District Judge Mathew Joseph rapped Chua for his "reprehensible" conduct and "bold and blatant disregard" of others' safety on Tuesday (May 22) as he sentenced Chua to nine-and-a-half months' jail and banned him from driving for three years.

The sentence was for four charges – driving without a valid licence, dangerous driving, using a motor vehicle without third-party insurance and possessing contraband goods.

Chua, who had 180 cartons or 35,200 sticks of contraband cigarettes with him, was stopped at a road block at Lorong 14 Geylang at around 10.45am on July 16 last year.

He refused to produce his particulars and, when diverted for further checks, attempted his four-minute action-filled getaway. His wife was with him but had obeyed a police officer's instructions to step out of the vehicle before Chua hightailed it.

He first turned left onto Guillemard Road before making another left onto Lorong 20 Geylang and Geylang Road. There, he collided with a ComfortDelGro taxi and scratched its side mirror. He did not stop and drove through a pedestrian crossing without making way for a pedestrian.

He then turned right onto Lorong 21 Geylang, narrowly missing another pedestrian who was crossing the road. He dashed through a "stop" sign before making an abrupt turn onto Sims Avenue, where he went against traffic. There were at least five cars travelling in the opposite direction at the time.

Chua turned onto Lorong 19 Geylang and disobeyed another "stop" sign before turning onto Lorong 16 Geylang. On both roads, he went against the direction of traffic.

The chase continued on Westerhout Road, where Chua hit two cars – a red Hyundai and a silver Toyota – parked on the street. He dislodged one car's side mirror and left scratches and dents, and broke the other car's side mirror and left a long scratch.

Chua made several more turns and drove through a gantry at 102 Guillemard Road before finally coming to a stop at the carpark gantry of Block 33 Cassia Crescent.

Instead of surrendering, Chua tried to run away and was subdued and arrested by police officers. He still refused to provide his particulars to the police – who obtained the information from his wife – claiming he could not remember his identification number.

Chua, who did not make restitution for the damages he caused, will start serving his sentence on May 28, after he was given a week's deferment to process a subsidy for his four-year-old son. He is out on bail of S$35,000.