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“Tow”ing The Thin Line of The Law
As students rejoice and celebrate over the month-long break from school, officers at the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) stands guard at the frontline of the nation’s gateways to ensure that undesirables do not enter the country. A couple of days after the start of the June school holidays, smugglers attempted to throw the authorities off track with a broken down bus that had to be towed into Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint. In spite of the stringent checks, smugglers continue to ‘tow’ (toe) the line, abandoning themselves to the wrong side of the law.
2 At the strike of midnight of 3 June 2009, a male Malaysian was caught by the ICA officers at Woodlands Checkpoint for attempting to bootleg contraband cigarettes into Singapore. Everything seemed normal, on the surface -- a Singapore-registered tow truck towing a broken down Malaysia-registered bus into the Republic, but the normalcy did not fool the sharp ICA officers.
A busload of contraband in tow
3 The ICA officer “smelled” a rat when the floorboard of the luggage compartment looked relatively newer than the rest of the old vehicle. The silicone lining and the paint along the floorboard gave out an unmistakable, pungent smell that was anything but ‘normal’. This sent alarms ringing in his head and his suspicions were affirmed when the backscatter scanning reflected anomalies in the broken down conveyance.
Sniffing them out
4 On prying open the floorboard of the luggage compartment, the ICA officers were rewarded with a discovery of close to 1,000 cartons (199,960 sticks) of duty-unpaid cigarettes. The potential customs duty and GST payable for the duty-unpaid cigarettes amount to over $70,000 and $6,300 respectively.
The loot from its “new” hiding place
5 When questioned, the 31 year-old Malaysian claimed that he was a relief driver and a male Malaysian by the name of "Louis" had instructed him to fetch some passengers from Jalan Skudai to Singapore. After clearance at Woodlands Checkpoint, he was supposed to leave the bus at the mosque near the checkpoint and await further instructions. Unfortunately for him, his attempt failed even prior to reaching the checkpoint.
6 The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations. 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 vehicle used in conveying this contraband will also be liable for forfeiture.
7 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. 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.
8 ICA will put in every effort and continue to take the necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency without compromising security. We seek your continued understanding and cooperation, and would like to advise against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.
END OF NEWS RELEASE
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
8 June 2009
2 At the strike of midnight of 3 June 2009, a male Malaysian was caught by the ICA officers at Woodlands Checkpoint for attempting to bootleg contraband cigarettes into Singapore. Everything seemed normal, on the surface -- a Singapore-registered tow truck towing a broken down Malaysia-registered bus into the Republic, but the normalcy did not fool the sharp ICA officers.
A busload of contraband in tow
3 The ICA officer “smelled” a rat when the floorboard of the luggage compartment looked relatively newer than the rest of the old vehicle. The silicone lining and the paint along the floorboard gave out an unmistakable, pungent smell that was anything but ‘normal’. This sent alarms ringing in his head and his suspicions were affirmed when the backscatter scanning reflected anomalies in the broken down conveyance.
Sniffing them out
4 On prying open the floorboard of the luggage compartment, the ICA officers were rewarded with a discovery of close to 1,000 cartons (199,960 sticks) of duty-unpaid cigarettes. The potential customs duty and GST payable for the duty-unpaid cigarettes amount to over $70,000 and $6,300 respectively.
The loot from its “new” hiding place
5 When questioned, the 31 year-old Malaysian claimed that he was a relief driver and a male Malaysian by the name of "Louis" had instructed him to fetch some passengers from Jalan Skudai to Singapore. After clearance at Woodlands Checkpoint, he was supposed to leave the bus at the mosque near the checkpoint and await further instructions. Unfortunately for him, his attempt failed even prior to reaching the checkpoint.
6 The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations. 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 vehicle used in conveying this contraband will also be liable for forfeiture.
7 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. 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.
8 ICA will put in every effort and continue to take the necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency without compromising security. We seek your continued understanding and cooperation, and would like to advise against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.
END OF NEWS RELEASE
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
8 June 2009