A total of 6,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found in the container of a Malaysia-registered prime mover on May 18, 2018, by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Tuas checkpoint.
The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $512,400 and $37,556 respectively.
ICA officers had detected anomalies in the scanned images of the consignment and directed vehicle for checks. During the course of checks, they discovered the duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed amongst a consignment of printer parts and roller scanners.
The 50-year-old male Malaysian driver and the prime mover have been handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigations.
"Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security," ICA said in a statement. "The security checks are critical to our nation’s security. 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."
