On 4 November 2016, at about 10pm, an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer at the Jurong Scanning Station directed a Singapore-registered prime mover, driven by a male Chinese national, for further inspection. The officer had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the 40-footer container although the driver claimed that it was empty.

 

2.         During the course of the inspection, the officers found 4,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden within a modified compartment of the container. The 31-year-old driver and the container with the duty-unpaid cigarettes were handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigations.

 

3.         The potential duty and Goods and Services Tax of the duty-unpaid cigarettes amounted to about S$429,900 and S$40,070 respectively.

 

4.         Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The security checks are critical to our nation’s security. The ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband.  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 NOVEMBER 2016


ICA Photos


Prime mover found with duty-unpaid cigarettes

          Modified compartment within the container Duty-unpaid cigarettes found in the modified compartment
 
Total duty-unpaid cigarettes seized