Singapore foils attempt to smuggle 10,000 cartons of cigarettes

Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Singapore Customs on Tuesday said that they have foiled attempt to smuggle 10,000 cartons of cigarettes into the country through Tuas checkpoint.

The authorities revealed that a Malaysia-registered prime mover with a cement bowser on its trailer, declared to be carrying cement, was targeted by Singapore Customs for inspection on April 9.

Driven by a 38-year-old Malaysian man, the vehicle arrived at Tuas Checkpoint at 2:45 p.m. ICA officers directed it for further inspection after noticing anomalies in the scanned images of the consignment.

The officers opened the latch of the bowser and saw boxes instead of the declared consignment of cement. A total of 10,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found.

The case was handed over to Singapore Customs for investigation, said ICA and Singapore Customs in the joint release.

The duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about 776,000 Singapore dollars (576,025 U.S. dollars) and 78,000 Singapore dollars (57,900 U.S. dollars) respectively.

Under the Customs Act and the GST Act, offenders caught buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are liable to a fine of up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, or imprisonment for up to six years, or both.

Vehicles used in the commission of such offences are also liable to be forfeited. Endit