SINGAPORE: Within a span of three days, more than 3,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized at Tuas Checkpoint by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers on Saturday (Oct 12) and Monday.
The contraband cigarettes were concealed in a Malaysia-registered bus and prime mover that were trying to enter Singapore on separate days.
In both cases, ICA said its officers had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the vehicles and directed them for further checks.
In the first case on Saturday, ICA said 925 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found hidden in the modified compartment underneath the floorboard of the bus.
The bus was driven by a 28-year-old Malaysian man and was ferrying several passengers into Singapore.
In the second case detected on Oct 14, 2,278 cartons of contraband cigarettes were found hidden in the modified roof compartment of an empty container of the prime-mover. The vehicle was driven by a 29-year-old Malaysian man.
In both cases, the drivers were arrested and handed over to the Singapore Customs for further investigation. They have also been charged in court.
The total amount of duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the two cases amounted to about S$291,470 (RM891,167) and S$21,400 (RM65,438) respectively. — Bernama
