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“Steal cigarettes” run deep
Relentless as they have been, smugglers go all out in their attempts to conceal and bring in contrabands. And try as they may, such attempts to “bury” their intention will ultimately be uncovered by our vigilant Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers. Loaded with baskets of vegetable as blanket cover, 650,000 sticks of cigarettes lie hidden from the watchful eyes of the inspecting officers. Wishful thinking. Superb judgement coupled with top-notch technology, ICA officers managed to “dig out the buried truth”.
2 On 5 October 2007 at about 0640, a Malaysia-registered truck driven by a male Malaysian Indian arrived at the Woodlands Checkpoint. The truck was declared to be carrying a consignment of assorted vegetables. However, the vigilant ICA officer manning the radiographic scanner noticed anomalies in the scanned image of the cargo and alerted his colleagues to conduct further checks. Upon request for further examination, the driver and the attendant appeared nervous and uncooperative. This arouses the suspicion of our officers. And true enough, after an hour of removing the baskets of vegetables and boxes of foodstuff, the ICA officers uncovered 3,250 cartons x 200 sticks of contraband cigarettes hidden underneath. Both the driver and the attendant were immediately placed under arrest.
3 During the preliminary investigation, both subjects denied knowledge of the duty-unpaid cigarettes found in the lorry. The driver claimed that he was supposed to deliver the goods to Pasir Panjang while the attendant revealed that he was an odd-job worker who helped the former occasionally to deliver the goods. The total amount of customs duties and Goods & Services Tax involved is estimated to be $228,800.00 and $20,475.00 respectively. 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.
Security at our checkpoints
4 As our country's first line of defence against terrorist threats, ICA has a duty to ensure the security and safety of Singapore. 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 contraband. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used to conceal illegal immigrants or by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore. We would like to advise the public against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.
2 On 5 October 2007 at about 0640, a Malaysia-registered truck driven by a male Malaysian Indian arrived at the Woodlands Checkpoint. The truck was declared to be carrying a consignment of assorted vegetables. However, the vigilant ICA officer manning the radiographic scanner noticed anomalies in the scanned image of the cargo and alerted his colleagues to conduct further checks. Upon request for further examination, the driver and the attendant appeared nervous and uncooperative. This arouses the suspicion of our officers. And true enough, after an hour of removing the baskets of vegetables and boxes of foodstuff, the ICA officers uncovered 3,250 cartons x 200 sticks of contraband cigarettes hidden underneath. Both the driver and the attendant were immediately placed under arrest.
3 During the preliminary investigation, both subjects denied knowledge of the duty-unpaid cigarettes found in the lorry. The driver claimed that he was supposed to deliver the goods to Pasir Panjang while the attendant revealed that he was an odd-job worker who helped the former occasionally to deliver the goods. The total amount of customs duties and Goods & Services Tax involved is estimated to be $228,800.00 and $20,475.00 respectively. 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.
Security at our checkpoints
4 As our country's first line of defence against terrorist threats, ICA has a duty to ensure the security and safety of Singapore. 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 contraband. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used to conceal illegal immigrants or by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore. We would like to advise the public against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.