SINGAPORE, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) evicted 13 people for bringing in and selling the much-hyped e-cigarette, local media reported on Wednesday.

Among the 13 individuals investigated are four local suppliers who set up websites to hawk the product. The other nine ordered the device online from overseas suppliers, local newspaper The Straits Times reported.

Touted as a "healthy" way to beat rising cigarette prices and a widening ban on smoking here, the electronic cigarette comprises a cartridge of liquid nicotine inserted into a battery-operated steel tube. A heating coil vaporizes the nicotine into a fine mist, which is then inhaled.

The import and sale of e-cigarettes is illegal here because under anti-smoking laws, anything that resembles a tobacco product cannot be imported, sold, or offered for sale. If convicted, a person can be fined up to 5,000 Singapore dollars (3,496 U.S. dollars).

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