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6,470 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized in 2 days

SINGAPORE — They were lorries carrying goods labelled as wardrobe sets and foodgrains, but checks by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint soon uncovered the presence of contraband products on board.

Approximately 750kg of chewing tobacco and 3,448 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. Photo: ICA

Approximately 750kg of chewing tobacco and 3,448 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. Photo: ICA

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SINGAPORE — They were lorries carrying goods labelled as wardrobe sets and foodgrains, but checks by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint soon uncovered the presence of contraband products on board. 

Last week, the authority foiled two attempts to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes and prohibited chewing tobacco into Singapore. More than 6,400 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and close to 75,000 sachets of chewing tobacco, weighing about 750kg, were seized.

And the total duty, and Goods and Services Tax evaded for the cigarettes in the two cases amounted to about S$502,000 and S$37,200 respectively, the authority said in a press release on Wednesday (April 26). 

The first case was detected on April 21. At about 7.20am, ICA officers stopped a Malaysian-registered lorry driven by a lone 47-year-old Malaysian man, and found 3,448 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and 74,940 sachets of chewing tobacco hidden among a consignment declared as wardrobe sets.

In the second case, another Malaysian-registered lorry, also driven by a lone Malaysian man, aged 48, arrived at the checkpoint on April 22 at about 7.10am. 

Checks by ICA officers led to the discovery of 3,022 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, concealed among items that were declared as wheat grain and food-grade bran.

The authority said that the prohibited chewing tobacco seized in the first case was sent to the Health Sciences Authority for investigation. 

The two men, the cigarettes, and the vehicles were handed over to the Singapore Customs, and investigations against both men are ongoing. The vehicles are liable to be forfeited, having been used in the commission of such offences, it added. 

The import and sale of chewing tobacco is prohibited in Singapore. 

The ICA said that it would continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband. 

“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,” it said, stressing that the checks are critical to security.

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