SINGAPORE: Two attempts to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes and chewing tobacco were foiled by customs officers last week, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Wednesday (Apr 26).
A total of 6,470 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and approximately 750kg of chewing tobacco were seized from the two smuggling attempts, said the ICA. Chewing tobacco is banned in Singapore.
In the first of the two cases, ICA officers found 3,448 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and 74,940 sachets of chewing tobacco weighing approximately 750kg in total in a lorry driven by a 47-year-old Malaysian man at Woodlands Checkpoint last Friday morning.
The cigarettes and tobacco were concealed among a consignment declared as wardrobe sets.
The second case happened on Saturday morning when officers found 3,022 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes in another Malaysia-registered lorry at Woodlands Checkpoint, driven by a 48-year-old Malaysian man.
The cartons were concealed among a consignment declared as wheat grain and food-grade bran.
The total duty and goods and services tax evaded for the cigarettes was around S$502,070 and S$37,210 respectively for each attempt said the ICA.
It added that the two men had been handed over to Singapore Customs, and investigations against them are ongoing.
