Three Malaysians nabbed over cigarette smuggling attempts in Singapore

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SINGAPORE: The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority arrested three Malaysian men and seized more than 1,300 cartons of contraband cigarettes over the past two days at the Woodlands checkpoint here.

The ICA said in a statement today that the Customs duty and GST on the cigarettes amounted to S$108,314 (RM303,844) and S$10,337 (RM28,997), respectively.

It said that in the first case, which happened at 7.20 am on July 1, a Malaysia-registered car driven by a 31-year-old Malaysian man arrived at the checkpoint and was subjected to further checks.

The ICA officers found 246 cartons of contraband cigarettes under the modified floorboard of the car.

On the same day, at 8.40 am, ICA officers directed another Malaysia-registered car, driven by a 26-year-old Malaysian man, for routine checks upon arrival at the checkpoint.

A total of 96 cartons and 948 packets of contraband cigarettes were found concealed in various parts of the car.

On July 2, at about 3 am, a Malaysia-registered lorry driven by a 35-year-old Malaysian man was stopped by ICA officers for arrival checks.

The consignment, declared as “3,200 cartons of assorted packet drinks” was subjected to further inspection after officers noticed anomalies in the scanned image.

“During the course of checks, our officers uncovered cartons of contraband cigarettes in sealed packages placed among the consignment of packet drinks. Further checks uncovered more contraband cigarettes hidden in the rear
compartment and tool box compartment of the lorry,” the ICA said.

A total of 959 cartons were seized.

The ICA said that all the people, exhibits and vehicles in the three cases were handed over to the Singapore Customs for further investigations, and added that the vehicles were liable to be forfeited. -Bernama