On 5 Sep 2003 at about 2300 hours, alerted by banging sounds coming out from an abandoned car near the Arrival car zone at Woodlands Checkpoint, a vigilant officer from Immigration & Checkpoint Authority discovered four illegal immigrants hiding underneath the rear passenger seat upon further inspection on the car. The four persons hiding in the car were immediately placed under arrest. The car was also seized.

2 A thorough search for the driver of the abandoned car was immediately conducted within the premise of the checkpoint. Within 10 minutes of the search, the suspected driver of the abandoned car, a 30 year-old male Malaysian, was nabbed by our officers when he attempted to depart from the checkpoint by clearing through the Bus Hall. He tried to run away when he spotted our officers conducting checks on the travellers.

3 Preliminary investigations revealed that the four persons hiding in the car are from Myanmar. They are aged from 24 to 28 years old. The four immigration offenders did not have any travel documents at all.

4 Security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints have been stepped up to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband. "We would not let anything illegal slip through our checkpoints, efforts would not be spared in ensuring that the movement of people, goods and conveyances through our checkpoint is legitimate and lawful," said Mr Tan Hock Guan, Commander (Woodlands Command).


5 ICA takes a serious view of attempts by foreigners to overstay or enter Singapore illegally. Under the Immigration Act (Cap 133), the penalties for overstaying or illegal entry are a jail term of up to six months plus a minimum of three strokes of the cane.

END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
6 Sep 2003