On 6 February 2017 at about 3.20pm, officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) directed a Malaysia-registered lorry, driven by a lone 50-year-old male Malaysian, for further checks upon its arrival at Woodlands checkpoint.

2.     The ICA officers had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the lorry declared to contain a consignment of cooking oil. During the course of checks, officers found duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in one of the boxes among the consignment. Further checks on a few other boxes revealed more duty-unpaid cigarettes. The driver, the exhibits and the lorry were handed over to the Singapore Customs for further investigations.

3.     A total of 4,844 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. The potential duty as well as Goods and Services Tax of the duty-unpaid cigarettes evaded amounted to about S$382,600 and S$23,320 respectively. The vehicle used in the commission of such offences is liable to be forfeited.

4.     Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's safety and 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
8 FEBRUARY 2017

ICA Photos


Lorry carrying the consignment


Duty-unpaid cigarettes seized from the lorry


Duty-unpaid cigarettes found amongst the consignment of cooking oil