Over 3,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized at Tuas Checkpoint

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 17, 2019 06:00 am

More than 3,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized at Tuas Checkpoint after two Malaysian men tried to smuggle the illegal smokes in modified compartments of a prime mover and a bus.

This happened over a span of three days, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement yesterday.

In the first case last Saturday, the authorities found 925 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes in a modified compartment underneath the floorboard of a Malaysia-registered bus at about 9.50am.

The bus was driven by a 28-year-old Malaysian man and was ferrying several passengers into Singapore.

Then on Monday at about 1.40am, ICA officers found 2,278 cartons of contraband cigarettes hidden in a modified roof compartment of an empty container of a Malaysian-registered prime mover driven by a 29-year-old Malaysian man.

In both cases, ICA officers had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the vehicles and directed them for more checks. Both drivers were arrested and the cases were handed over to Singapore Customs for investigation. They have been charged in court.