On 22 Oct 2003 at about 1735 hours, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers conducted a check on a fishing vessel berthed at Jurong Fishery Port. In the course of their search, our ICA officers ferreted out four Thai female hidden in two separate cabins. Two of them were found to be overstayers while the other two did not have any valid travel documents. The ICA officers left no stones unturned as they searched the entire vessel thoroughly. Three cartons x 200 sticks of cigarettes were found hidden in the starboard side below the steering wheel and another 3 cartons in a locker inside the crew's cabin. Another 57 bottles of 625ml Thai rice wine were found hidden under the wooden planks along the walkway inside the engine room.

2 The 4 Thai females were later handed over to ICA's Enforcement Branch for further investigation. The Thai master of the vessel and his two Thai crew were referred together with the cigarettes and Thai rice wine to Singapore Customs for further investigation.

3 ICA has stepped up our enforcement actions and tightened the security checks at the checkpoints. And this includes the Jurong Fishery Port too where our ICA officers maintain a high level of vigilance at all times to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband.

END OF NEWS RELEASE


Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
23 Oct 2003