On 23 August 2019, at about 6.20am, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Woodlands Checkpoint directed an arriving Malaysia-registered lorry, driven by a 31-year-old Malaysian man, for further checks. The officers’ suspicions were aroused when they noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the consignment of paper rolls. 

2.         During the course of checks, vigilant ICA officers uncovered a total of 11,054 cartons and 402 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden within the consignment.  This is the second largest haul of duty-unpaid cigarettes uncovered by ICA within a month. The driver was immediately placed under arrest and the case was handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigation.

3.         The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $1,075,010 and $78,610 respectively. Investigations are ongoing.

4.         Safeguarding Singapore’s borders remains ICA’s top priority. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore. ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers, cargos and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands across our borders.

Photos

Lorry used to smuggle the duty-unpaid cigarettes. (Photo: ICA)


Duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside paper rolls. (Photo: ICA)


A total of 11,054 cartons and 402 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. (Photo: ICA)

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
27 AUGUST 2019