On 18 Sep 2003 at about 1345 hrs, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers boarded and searched an empty Malaysian-registered tour coach at Tuas checkpoint, Arrival zone, as part of a routine check. In the course of the search, ICA officers found that many compartments of the tour coach, including the compartments for the luggage, air conditioner compressor, were locked. When asked by ICA Officers to open the compartments for examination, the driver appeared to be slow in responding to the request. Upon further inspection, a total of 1495 cartons x 200 sticks of assorted duty unpaid cigarettes were found hidden under various parts of the empty coach, including the engine compartment and the undercarriage. The haul is the largest since the inception of Tuas checkpoint in 1998.

2 The market value of the cigarettes is estimated to be S$124,000/-. The amount of Customs duty and GST payable is about S$76,245/- and S$4,222/- respectively.

3 Both the driver and co-driver, male Malaysians aged 29 and 23 years old respectively, admitted to trying to smuggle the cigarettes into Singapore. They were arrested and later handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigation. If found guilty, the offenders could be fined up to a maximum of 20 times the amount of custom duties and GST involved.

4 "We cannot afford to let our guards down, as any security lapses will have serious consequences for Singapore. All our officers have and will remain vigilant when conducting security checks on all passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent any smuggling activities," said Mr Tan Poh Kee, Commander of Tuas Command.

5 ICA has tightened all security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband. ICA would like to advise the public against the smuggling of contraband goods into Singapore.


END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
18 Sep 2003