On 11 December 2018 at about 3.45am, a Singapore-registered car, driven by a 25-year-old male Singaporean, stopped for car boot checks on arrival at Tuas Checkpoint. 

2          During inspection, an officer from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) noticed anomalies in the car boot and conducted further checks.  Upon removing the spare tyre and the cover of the spare tyre compartment, the officer found 12 sedated puppies cramped in the compartment. Some were weak and three of them eventually died.  As the driver did not possess valid health certificate and import permits, he was referred to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) for investigation. The surviving puppies are currently being cared for and quarantined at AVA’s facilities.

3          Animals that are smuggled into Singapore are of unknown health status and may introduce exotic diseases, such as rabies, into the country. As such, AVA strictly regulates the import of animals to prevent the introduction of exotic diseases into Singapore and safeguard the health and welfare of animals. The importation of any animals without an AVA permit is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of $10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

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.

5          The ICA and AVA would like to remind travellers against bringing live animals, birds and insects into Singapore without a proper permit.  The public can refer to AVA’s website or download AVA’s mobile app, SG TravelKaki (available free-of-charge from iTunes and the Google Play store), for more information on bringing back animals from overseas travels.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
AGRI-FOOD & VETERINARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
13 DECEMBER 2018

Photos

Caption: The puppies were hidden in the spare tyre compartment of the car (source: ICA)

Caption: A total of 12 puppies were retrieved from the car (source: ICA)