On 25 November 2015 at about 4.40am, officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint spotted two black trash bags floating near the shoreline along the Causeway. Sensing something amiss, the officers conducted checks and detected two persons swimming near the shoreline towards Malaysia.

2.     Further checks revealed that the two male Malaysians, aged 37 and 39, were attempting to depart Singapore by swimming to Malaysia while holding the trash bags over their heads to conceal themselves. They were immediately placed under arrest. Investigations are ongoing. 
                                   

                                                                          
                                                                                 Black trash bags used by the duo

3.     Preliminary investigations showed that the two immigration offenders have overstayed in Singapore. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) takes a serious view of attempts to overstay, enter or depart 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, while the penalties for illegal departure is a fine of up to $2,000, a jail term of up to six months, or both.

4.     Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The security checks are critical to our nation’s security. We 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
25 November 2015