Smugglers are “going green”! By reusing the old ways of concealing contrabands, the smugglers thought that they could outsmart the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers. Then again, they were so wrong for the ICA officers are just too familiar with these same old tricks.

2. Contrary to their beliefs that the officers were only looking out for new methods of smuggling illicit items into our borders, the petty smugglers’ “go green” strategy went awry on three separate attempts at the same checkpoint. More than 2,000 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes with the potential customs duty of $14,000 and GST of $1,270 was uncovered, kudos to the ever-alert ICA officers!

Part 1: Woodlands Checkpoint, 482 packets of contraband cigarettes detected

3. On Tuesday, 9 March at about 4.15pm, an ICA officer discovered some duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside the spare tyre of a Singapore-registered car during a routine check of the vehicle at the Woodlands Checkpoint. On discovery of the illicit loot, the driver was then directed to the Arrival Car Zone for further inspection.

4. True to the officer’s instinct, more contraband cigarettes were found strapped to the rear seat and backrest of the vehicle. In the presence of the Singaporean Chinese driver, the officer found a total of 482 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes from the various hiding places.

5. Preliminary investigation revealed that the 33-year old man had bought the cigarettes at Johor Bahru for S$15 per carton and intended to smuggle them into Singapore where he would sell them to buyers at the Hougang estate for S$25 per carton. The case has been handed over to the Singapore Customs (SC) for investigation.



   

Duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden at the rear backrest and spare tyre of the car


Part 2: Woodlands Checkpoint, 1,267 packets of contraband cigarettes detected

6. Hours later in the morning of 10 March, another vehicle was found with contraband cigarettes. In the course of a routine check on a Malaysia-registered car, an ICA officer caught sight of a larger than normal speaker box in the car boot and became suspicious. When the driver was asked to remove the speaker drum, duty-unpaid cigarettes were found to be concealed inside the box. And that was not all. When the car was subjected to a more thorough scan, the scanning images turned up irregularities at the door panels of the vehicle.

7. The ICA officers eventually uncovered a total of 1,267 packets of contraband cigarettes from the various hiding places in the vehicle. The 28-year old Malaysian Chinese driver, as well as the contraband cigarettes and the vehicle were handed over to the SC for investigation

  
Smoky speaker and door panels!!

Part 3: Woodlands Checkpoint, 260 packets of contraband cigarettes detected

8. Barely hours after the second case was detected, ICA officers busted another attempt by a lone male Malaysian Chinese to smuggle contraband cigarettes using the same method. When the driver drove the Malaysia-registered car into the Arrival Car Zone for a routine check, the loose screws of the speaker in the car boot did not escape the observant ICA officer. Sending the car for a scan, the officer’s suspicion was confirmed when the scanning images showed anomalies inside the speaker and the side panel of the car boot.

9. The ICA officers retrieved 260 packets of contraband cigarettes from the car. The 21-year old Malaysian man who is working in Singapore admitted that he had bought the cigarettes in Johor Bahru with the intention of selling them to his friends and colleagues at his workplace in Singapore. He was not in financial difficulty and had only wanted to earn more money to settle his car loan in Malaysia. He is now assisting the SC in the investigation.



  

Exhibits found in the speaker and side panel

10. Old or new, such tricks may not fool the ICA officers whose vigilance and detection skills have helped keep Singapore safe and secure. Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The enhanced security checks are critical to our nation’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.

11. Travellers who are caught importing uncustomed goods will be dealt with under the Customs Act, Cap 70. Upon conviction by the court, first time offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded and liable to a jail term not exceeding three years. For second or subsequent convictions, offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded and jailed for up to six years. The offenders also face further fines based on the amount of GST evaded. The vehicles used in conveying the contraband will also be liable for forfeiture.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
16 MARCH 2010