On 9 April 2016, a Malaysia-registered prime mover with a cement bowser on its trailer, declared to be carrying cement, was targeted by Singapore Customs for inspection.

2.    At about 2.45pm, the prime mover, driven by a 38-year-old Malaysian man, arrived at the Tuas Checkpoint. After noticing anomalies in the scanned images of the consignment, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers directed it for further inspection.

3.     On opening the latch of the bowser, the ICA officers saw boxes instead of the declared consignment of cement. A total of 10,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were recovered from the bowser.

4.     The case was handed over to Singapore Customs for investigation. The duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about S$776,000 and S$78,000 respectively.

5.     Under the Customs Act and the GST Act, offenders caught buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are liable to a fine of up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, or imprisonment for up to six years, or both. Vehicles used in the commission of such offences are also liable to be forfeited.

6.     Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The security checks are critical to our nation’s security. The ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands. 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.


IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
SINGAPORE CUSTOMS
12 APRIL 2016

(Photo source: ICA) The cement bowser used to convey the contraband cigarettes

(Photo source: ICA) Contraband cigarettes hidden in the cement bowser

(Photo source: ICA) A total of 10,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized