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Pulley Tricks
Remember the pulley tins that were used by old-style provision shop owners to keep cash? Do not be surprised as officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) have recently detected smugglers who have included the pulley system in their bag of tricks in their attempt to evade detection. Smugglers may have pulley tricks up their sleeves but the ICA officers are also certainly pulling no stops. Read on to find out how this simple mechanism comes into play…
2. On 16 October 2011, at about 9pm, a lone Malaysian bus driver drove a “Bus Kilang” into the Woodlands Checkpoint, seeking arrival clearance. The ICA officers directed the bus for a routine inspection and spotted some anomalies in the scanned images. Sensing something amiss, the ICA officers directed the bus to inspection bay for more thorough checks. It did not take long for the experienced ICA officers to detect a modified compartment in the bus.
3. A total of 2,275 cartons of contraband cigarettes were found hidden in the roof compartment of the bus. As the astute officers examined the modified compartment to retrieve the contraband cigarettes, they detected a motorized mechanism at the top rear of the bus. The mechanism worked like a pulley system which had a “conveyor belt” to enable easy and fast retrieval of the contraband cigarettes from the modified roof compartment.
Smugglers going “nostalgic” with pulley system
4. Preliminary investigation revealed that the driver was promised RM1,000 to transport the contrabands into Singapore. He was told by another fellow compatriot to pick up the bus in Johor and drive to Benoi Road in Singapore to unload the contraband cigarettes. The 27-year-old driver and the contraband cigarettes had been referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation. The potential Customs duty and GST payable for the contrabands amounted to about S$160,160 and $15,170 respectively.
Contraband cigarettes “pulled” out of the bus
5. Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act. Offenders will be severely dealt with. Repeat offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to six years. For every packet of illegal cigarettes, buyers may face a composition sum of at least $500.
6. Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. We have tightened our 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 more sinister attacks in Singapore. The enhanced security checks are critical to our nation’s security.
IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
17 OCTOBER 2011
2. On 16 October 2011, at about 9pm, a lone Malaysian bus driver drove a “Bus Kilang” into the Woodlands Checkpoint, seeking arrival clearance. The ICA officers directed the bus for a routine inspection and spotted some anomalies in the scanned images. Sensing something amiss, the ICA officers directed the bus to inspection bay for more thorough checks. It did not take long for the experienced ICA officers to detect a modified compartment in the bus.
3. A total of 2,275 cartons of contraband cigarettes were found hidden in the roof compartment of the bus. As the astute officers examined the modified compartment to retrieve the contraband cigarettes, they detected a motorized mechanism at the top rear of the bus. The mechanism worked like a pulley system which had a “conveyor belt” to enable easy and fast retrieval of the contraband cigarettes from the modified roof compartment.
Smugglers going “nostalgic” with pulley system
4. Preliminary investigation revealed that the driver was promised RM1,000 to transport the contrabands into Singapore. He was told by another fellow compatriot to pick up the bus in Johor and drive to Benoi Road in Singapore to unload the contraband cigarettes. The 27-year-old driver and the contraband cigarettes had been referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation. The potential Customs duty and GST payable for the contrabands amounted to about S$160,160 and $15,170 respectively.
Contraband cigarettes “pulled” out of the bus
5. Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act. Offenders will be severely dealt with. Repeat offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to six years. For every packet of illegal cigarettes, buyers may face a composition sum of at least $500.
6. Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. We have tightened our 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 more sinister attacks in Singapore. The enhanced security checks are critical to our nation’s security.
IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
17 OCTOBER 2011