Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers foiled an attempt to smuggle 2,400 cartons of duty unpaid cigarettes into Singapore via Tuas Checkpoint on Sept 5.

In a Facebook post on Saturday (Sept 13), ICA said that it noticed anomalies in the scanned image of a Malaysia-registered lorry which had declared its consignment of goods as tomatoes and directed the vehicle for further checks.

During the checks, ICA officers uncovered 2,400 cartons of duty unpaid cigarettes.

From the photographs shared in ICA's post, cartons of cigarettes could be seen packed in carton boxes imprinted with tomatoes. 

The case has been referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation. 

Vapes hidden in baby stroller

On Sept 9, ICA officers foiled an attempt to smuggle e-vaporisers hidden in a baby stroller stored in the boot of a Singaporean man's car. 

On Aug 27, a Malaysia-registered van carryingair-conditioning equipment and servicing parts attempted to smuggle more than 890 e-vaporisers and more than 6,700 related components hidden in boxes, various compartments of the vehicle, and even an air conditioning unit and its parts. 

Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are considered serious offences under the Customs Act and the Goods and Services Tax (GST Act). If found guilty, offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded and/or jailed for up to six years. Vehicles used in the commission of such offences and proceeds of sales of duty-unpaid cigarettes are also liable to be forfeited. 

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editor@asiaone.com