In its ongoing efforts to detect and deter tax evasion, the Singapore Customs conducted an operation on 23 April 2024. Four people, three Singaporeans and a Malaysian national, were arrested.
During the operation, Customs officers conducted observation on an industrial unit at Sungei Kadut Street 1. A prime mover towing a fuel bowser was seen entering an industrial unit and the driver left the unit subsequently.
Suspecting that illegal duty-unpaid cigarette activities could be involved, the officers moved in. They saw two men transferring black trash bags from the fuel bowser to a parked van behind it. The officers uncovered a total of 2,952 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes wrapped within the trash bags and arrested the two Singaporeans, aged 23 and 29.
Officers also arrested the prime mover driver, a 39-year-old male Malaysian, and another man, a 23-year-old Singaporean, who was later sighted within the vicinity.
Investigations revealed that the driver allegedly drove the prime mover with the bowser from Malaysia to the industrial unit. The two men transferring duty-unpaid cigarettes to the van were allegedly engaged by another unknown person via a social messaging platform to retrieve the cigarettes from the bowser. For the remaining man, he was allegedly engaged to act as a lookout.
All the duty-unpaid cigarettes as well as the van, prime mover and bowser were seized by Customs. The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about SGD 319,914. Court proceedings are ongoing.
Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act. Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, and/or jailed for up to six years. Vehicles used in committing such offences are liable to be forfeited.