On 17 February 2020, at about 4.39am, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Woodlands Checkpoint directed an arriving Malaysia-registered lorry for further checks. The officers’ suspicions were aroused when they noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the consignment declared as “vegetables”.  

2.         During the course of checks, vigilant ICA officers uncovered a total of 5,220 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside cardboard boxes within the consignment. The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $445,788 and $36,094 respectively.

3.         Further checks revealed that the 27-year-old Malaysian driver was in possession of a forged Malaysia driving license. The driver was immediately placed under arrest and the case referred to Singapore Customs and the Singapore Police Force for investigations.

4.         Safeguarding Singapore’s borders remains ICA’s top priority. 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. ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers, cargos and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands across our borders.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
21 February 2020

Photos

Lorry used to smuggle the duty-unpaid cigarettes. (Photo: ICA)


Duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside cardboard boxes within the consignments declared as “vegetables”. (Photo: ICA)


A total of 5,220 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were uncovered. (Photo: ICA)