On 23 November 2018 at about 5.00am, an officer from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) directed an arriving Malaysia-registered lorry, driven by a 38-year-old Malaysian man, for further checks at Tuas checkpoint.

2.       The ICA officer had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the lorry which was conveying a consignment declared to be oatmeal. During the course of checks, ICA officers uncovered 7,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed amongst the consignment. The case was handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigation. The vehicle used in the commission of such offences is liable to be forfeited.

3.       The total duty and Goods and Services Tax evaded amounted to about S$640,500 and S$46,950 respectively.

4.        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
26 NOVEMBER 2018



The lorry used in the smuggling of duty-unpaid cigarettes. (Photo: ICA)


Duty-unpaid cigarettes were concealed amongst the consignment declared to be oatmeal. (Photo: ICA)

A total of 7,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. (Photo: ICA)