We are well aware of the harmful effects that smoking has on humans, but did you know that frogs, with their highly developed sensory abilities, can also be affected by cigarettes? The officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers witnessed for themselves the behaviour of these amphibians when they came into contact with cigarettes. Was it the stench of the contrabands or was it something else that led to the frogs to remain immobile? Nonetheless, this was a give-away that led to the thwarting of an attempt to smuggle cigarettes into Singapore.

2     On 7 July 2008 at about 2055 hours, 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. As with his regular routine, the subject was conveying his usual declared consignment of “live consumption frogs”, and exchanged greetings with the officer.



Case photo 1: Declared consignment of “live consumption frogs”

3     However, this particular evening, when the officer asked to check his consignment kept in the car boot, the frogs were inactive and appeared lifeless, unlike their usual boisterous croaking. This aroused the officer’s suspicions and when he saw the subject casting worried glances and behaving uneasily, he decided to conduct a thorough inspection.

4     In the course of checks, the vigilant officer uncovered a total of 44 cartons x 200’s and 59 packets x 20’s of contraband cigarettes from the spare tyre compartment of the car boot. The potential customs duty and GST payable for the duty-unpaid cigarettes amount to about S$3510 and S$310 respectively.



Case photo 2: Contrabands hidden in the spare tyre compartment



Case photo 3: Total exhibits seized

5     The 45 year-old Chinese man admitted knowledge of the exhibits found. He claimed that he would be paid a sum of RM600 upon successful delivery of the contraband cigarettes to Singapore. He further revealed that he was told to leave the vehicle at Johor Bahru in the evening. He was then instructed to collect the car about half an hour later and was told to drive to Ang Mo Kio in Singapore.

6     The case has been 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.

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 as much as possible 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 July 2008