More often than not, for people who do not perform up to a certain standard we tell them to polish up their skills. For those who attempt to flout the law, no matter how hard they try to polish their methods to evade the arms of law, it merely draws the inexorable justice closely to them. This was the case when our officer, held on to his implacable suspicion on a scanned image, directed a lorry loaded with a consignment of polishing compound for a more thorough check.

Lorry used to smuggle contraband

2 On 18 October 2008 at about 0900hrs, a Malaysia registered lorry carrying 18 pallets x 27 cartons of polishing compound was directed for further inspection as the officers found some anomalies in the scanned image.

3 While performing physical inspection on the consignment, the alert officer felt some hard objects hidden amongst the soft powdery compound. Thereafter, with the help of fellow officers, a grand total of 4,046 cartons x 200 sticks of stashed cigarettes were uncovered. The potential customs duty and GST involved on the duty-unpaid cigarettes amount to about $284,800 and $25,800 respectively.

4 Not surprisingly, the 57 year-old Chinese driver denied knowledge of the stowaway cigarettes. The male Malaysian claimed that he picked up the consignment of ‘polishing compound’ from a warehouse in Malacca before heading to Singapore. He was working for a Mr Mah, also known to him as Ah Sheng, who paid him a monthly allowance of RM300 and an additional 23% of the freight fees collected for each delivery.



What they want us to believe they were…



What they really were… 4,046 cartons x 200's of assorted brands of duty-unpaid cigarettes

5 The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations. Upon conviction by the court, first time offenders can be fined up to a maximum of 20 times the amount of duty evaded. For second or subsequent convictions, offenders can be jailed for up to two years, as well as being fined. The offenders also face further fines based on the amount of GST evaded. The lorry used in conveying this contraband will also be liable for forfeiture.

6 Under the Customs Act as well as the Immigration Act, vehicles used in the smuggling of contraband items or illegal immigrants will be seized and are liable to be forfeited. It is the responsibility of logistics companies and bus owners operating across the borders to ensure that their vehicles are not used for smuggling unlawful goods or persons into Singapore as they would ultimately have to bear the cost of their employees’ wrongdoings.

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. As Commissioner ICA, Mr Eric Tan puts it “It is of paramount importance that ICA continues to adopt a zero tolerance approach towards any smuggling activity. However, our borders are not air tight. While ICA has successfully been detecting smuggling attempts, we cannot rule out the possibility that inventive syndicates will incessantly find means and ways to infiltrate our borders.”


Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
20 October 2008