Be it behavioural cues or physical giveaways, above or beneath the vehicle, there is no escaping ICA officers’ keen sense of observation. In just under a week, three male Malaysian smugglers were nabbed red-handed at Tuas Checkpoint for attempted smuggling of large hauls of duty-unpaid cigarettes with Malaysia-registered buses. So, what were their Achilles heels that gave the game away? One displayed tense body language while the others did not do a good job with the contraband concealment.

2 The October spate of case detections at Tuas Checkpoint started when officers noticed a trend of buses being used to smuggle contraband items. In their first case on 8 October 2008 at about 1630hrs, the vigilant officers sensed something amiss when they noticed that the top part of the luggage compartment was unusually low. As expected, the Z-backscatter scan also revealed anomalies in the floorboard area of the vehicle. Upon prying open the specially constructed floorboard, ICA officers uncovered a total of 1,440 x 200’s cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the presence of the 28 year-old Malay bus driver.

Photo 1: Contraband hidden under specially constructed floorboard


Photo 2: Contraband cigarettes seized

3 The very next day at about 2110hrs, a 47 year-old Chinese bus driver aroused suspicions with shifty behavioural cues and unconvincing responses to questions posed by checking officers. When they noticed that he kept glancing uneasily at the roof of the bus, the sharp officers got down to dismantling the ceiling of the vehicle. Their efforts paid off when they discovered that the air ventilation fan on the roof was a decoy. After a tedious dismantling process, a total of 2,423 x 200’s cartons of contraband cigarettes was retrieved.

  

Photo 3: Fake air ventilation fan: before and after removal from the bus ceiling



Photo 4: Contraband hidden within modified ceiling


4 And while you were slumbering in the midnight hour of 13 October 2008, our frontline guardians at the Second Link did not let down on their alertness. At the bus inspection area, noses turned up at the pungent whiff of fresh paint at the luggage compartment. Intuitively, the officers’ antennas also went up. A fresh coat of paint, coupled with new rubber mats along the bus aisle and new carpets with fresh glue on the floorboard sent alarms ringing. Upon lifting the carpet near the emergency exit, officers uncovered cigarettes under the wooden floorboard. In the presence of the 32 year-old Chinese driver, a total of 1,845 x 200’s cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes was retrieved from the modified floorboard compartment.



Photo 5: Duty-unpaid cigarettes from modified floorboard compartment

5 All in all, a grand total of over 1.1 million sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes was uncovered in these recent cases detected at Tuas Checkpoint. The potential customs duty and GST involved amount to about S$431,000 and S$37,000 respectively.

6 The three subjects were 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 buses used in conveying the contraband will be liable for forfeiture.

7 In the first nine months of 2008, there were 5 cases of contraband smuggling involving buses through the land checkpoints. But barely mid-way through this month, ICA officers have already busted 3 cases of contraband smuggling using buses, all of which attempted to bootleg the contraband into Singapore through Tuas Checkpoint.

8 In most of these cases, the cash-trapped drivers had agreed to help syndicates bring in the contrabands for a paltry sum of ‘coffee money’ since little effort is required of them and the items are, after all, just harmless cigarettes. Often, they are easily exploited by syndicate members who convinced them that ICA is unlikely to subject them to strict checks since they ply the causeways regularly. However, they were normally not told the downside of the deal. They might be successful once or twice but the long arms of the laws will eventually catch up with them.

9 Like contraband smuggling, it is also possible for illegal immigrants to hide themselves in vehicles or vessels in order to enter Singapore illegally. As mentioned by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng in Parliament on 2 March 2007, "We must also be realistic. Singapore is an island. Our borders are not air-tight and some will still try their luck to evade our checks. Some may succeed. But we believe most will be caught if not at the borders, then eventually within the country.”

10 There is always a chance that 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. Similarly, illegal immigrants can hide in the same compartments of vehicles and vessels to enter or leave the country undetected. To safeguard the nation’s security, ICA has to adopt an unwavering stance on smuggling of contraband or people.


Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
14 October 2008