For the second time in three days, ICA is bringing to you the news that another person has been caught with his pants down for trying to smuggle in illegal items by hiding them in his briefs. The 38-year-old male Malaysian probably did not expect ICA officers to be so thorough in their security checks and to detect the forged documents that were hidden in his briefs.

2 On 25 Aug 05 at about 0725 hours, the man was riding his motorcycle into Singapore through Woodlands checkpoint when he was stopped together with a few other motorcyclists for a routine check. His face turned pale when he saw the other motorcyclists going through thorough checks by ICA officers. He started to appear nervous and this aroused the suspicion of our alert officers. After a thorough search, our officers found in his underwear a red packet containing two silver foils. The following items were found in the two silver foils:


a. 2 forged blue Singapore National Registration Identity Cards (NRIC);
b. 1 forged Singapore Employment Pass;
c. 1 Singapore Safety Orientation Certificate (SOC); and
d. 1 forged Singapore Immigration rubber stamp.

3 After we had uncovered his plot to smuggle in the forged documents by hiding them in his underwear, he admitted that he was working for a Malaysian who promised him SGD50 for every set of forged documents brought into Singapore. He was referred to the Police for further investigation.

4 The Singapore authorities take a serious view of attempts to forge immigration cards and other related documents. For forgery of passes or in possession of forged passes, the offender faces an imprisonment for a term of up to 7 years and shall also be liable to a fine.


END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
25 Aug 05