SINGAPORE: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers on Monday (Feb 17) seized thousands of cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes declared as vegetables in a lorry.
The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about S$445,788 and S$36,094 respectively, said ICA in a news release on Friday.
In the incident, which happened at about 4.40am, officers at Woodlands Checkpoint grew suspicious when they found “anomalies” in the scanned images of a consignment in a Malaysia-registered lorry.
The consignment had been declared as “vegetables” – but when officers carried out further checks, they discovered 5,220 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside cardboard boxes.
Duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden inside boxes within a “vegetable” consignment. (Photo: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority)
A total of 5,220 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were discovered. (Photo: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority)
“Further checks revealed that the 27-year-old Malaysian driver was in possession of a forged Malaysia driving license,” said the authority.
He was immediately arrested and the case was referred to Singapore Customs and the Singapore Police Force for investigations.
