SINGAPORE: More than 11,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside paper rolls were seized at Woodlands Checkpoint by officers, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a news release on Tuesday (Aug 27).
At about 6.20am last Friday, officers directed a Malaysia-registered lorry for further checks after they noticed anomalies in the scanned images of a consignment of paper rolls.
During the checks, a total of 11,054 cartons and 402 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found hidden inside the consignment.
READ: More than 1,000 packets of contraband cigarettes found in car tyres at Woodlands Checkpoint
The driver, a 31-year-old Malaysian man, was arrested and the case was handed to Singapore Customs for further investigation.
ICA said the total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about S$1,075,010 and S$78,610 respectively. Investigations are ongoing.
This is the second-largest haul of duty-unpaid cigarettes uncovered by ICA within a month.
The Malaysian-registered lorry driven by a 31-year-old Malaysian man was carrying more than 11,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside paper rolls. (Photo: ICA)
A total of 11,054 cartons and 402 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized. (Photo: ICA)
READ: ICA officers seize cigarettes hidden in modified cars
“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,” the authority said.
“ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers, cargos and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands across our borders.”
