More vehicles seized for smuggling contraband cigarettes

SINGAPORE — The number of vehicles seized for smuggling contraband cigarette has seen an upward trend, with 243 vehicles seized last year as compared to 147 in 2013, and 123 in 2012.

Many of the vehicles seized were found to have modified compartments used to hide contraband cigarettes.

These figures were released today (Feb 4) by the Singapore Customs on its annual enforcement results.

There was also a 3.4 per cent increase in the number of contraband cigarette packets seized last year, from 2.9 million packets to three million packets in 2014. This is the largest seizure since 2009.

However, there was a fall in the total number of contraband cigarette offenders to 23,862 in 2014, down from 27,041 the year before. The sum in duties collected from cigarettes also continued to grow, with S$1.1 billion collected last year.

Meanwhile, there was a 2.9 per cent increase in the number of liquor offenders. There were 1,305 offenders in 2014 compared to 1,268 in the previous year.

There was also continued drop in the number of people prosecuted for fuel gauge offences since 2010, with no prosecutions last year.

Singapore Customs said it has observed an emerging trend of online retailers attempting to evade or under-declare the Goods and Services Tax on importation of goods into the country. Last year, nine such offenders were prosecuted.