The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) hopes that the smugglers have learnt their lesson the hard way – that our officers will not be hoodwinked or deterred by the tricks they have up their sleeves, no matter how many more they may have. If they thought heavy, perishable livestock would have jammed the brakes on thorough checks, they have assumed wrongly. And if these crooks were under the delusion that concealment of the illicit items within thick glass tanks would have guaranteed success, they could not have been more wrong. As guardians of Singapore’s gateways, ICA officers are determined to flush out any smuggling attempt that might possibly threaten the nation’s security and are not daunted by these hurdles that stand in their way.

2 A couple of hours before the midnight of 7 July 2009, ICA officers at the Tuas Checkpoint directed an arriving Malaysia-registered lorry carrying four tones of live seafood for scanning. Both the gamma-ray and backscatter scanning revealed anomalies beneath the floorboard of the vehicle and aroused the officers’ suspicions. Due to the perishable nature of the consignment, the officers decided to lead the vehicle to the importer premises for unloading before escorting it back to the checkpoint for further checks.

3 When the Malaysian driver drove the lorry back to the checkpoint three hours later, the officers decided to tackle the ‘fishy’ business with physical checks. The checkpoint officers embarked on the arduous task of drilling a hole to peep into the fibre glass fish tank. These officers working into the wee hours ignored their fatigue and persisted with the tedious efforts, and refused to give up in spite of the initial failed attempts. Their adrenaline saw a rush when signs of cigarette cartons were visible after several tries.

       


Persisting to knock out the loot and sighting the illegal ciggies!

4 The ICA officers’ painstaking efforts were rewarded with 1,300 cartons x 200 sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes from the inner compartment of the fibre glass tank and floorboard of the lorry. The contraband smokes are worth about S$117,000. The potential customs duty and GST payable for the cigarettes amount to S$92,000 and S$8,300 respectively.

      


From every nook and cranny – Above and beneath the floorboard

5 When questioned, the 34 year-old driver claimed that he was engaged by a Malaysian Chinese by the name of 'Ah Meng' and was paid RM60 for each delivery trip made. The instructions given to him was to deliver the live seafood from Senai Town in Malaysia to Senoko Fishery Port. Thereafter, he was to leave the lorry in a specific location in Jurong and return an hour later to pick it up for his return trip to Malaysia.
6 The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations. Upon conviction by the court, first time offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded and liable to a jail term not exceeding three years. For second or subsequent convictions, offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded and jailed for up to six years. The offenders also face further fines based on the amount of GST evaded. The vehicle used in conveying this contraband will also be liable for forfeiture.

7 Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The enhanced security checks are critical to our nation’s security. 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 contrabands. 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.

8 ICA will put in every effort and continue to take the necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency without compromising security. We seek your continued understanding and cooperation, and would like to advise against smuggling unlawful goods into Singapore.

END OF NEWS RELEASE


IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
7 July 2009