For the second time in three days, a man has been arrested at the land checkpoint for trying to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore while using his family as decoys. The most recent case happened at Woodlands Checkpoint on 18 Aug 2005, when a 37-year-old Malaysian man was arrested for attempting to smuggle in a total of 38 cartons and 62 loose packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in the door panels of his car.

2 Three days later, on 21 Aug 2005, at about 1400 hrs, a Singapore-registered car was stopped by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Tuas Checkpoint for a routine check. The driver of the car was a Malay male, accompanied by his wife, sister-in-law and a two-year-old baby.

3 This composition of family members did not make the ICA officers any less vigilant in their checks. Instead, a thorough check was conducted on the car, where 20 packets of 20-sticks duty-unpaid Salem Menthol cigarettes were found hidden inside a tissue box placed near the rear windscreen.

4 The male Singaporean admitted ownership of the cigarettes and claimed that they were for his personal consumption. The case was referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigations, and the man was subsequently issued a composition fine of $1,239.80.

5 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. In the first six months of this year, we have detected more than 7,000 cases of contraband and illegal goods being imported into Singapore. The cases include offensive weapons, duty-unpaid cigarettes, obscene VCDs as well as endangered species in wild fauna and flora. We would like to advise the public against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore


END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
22 Aug 2005