Over 6,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes seized; 5 people arrested, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Over 6,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes seized; 5 people arrested

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More than 6,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized by Singapore Customs officers who observed activity at the loading and unloading bay of an industrial building in Woodlands Industrial Park.

Four men - three Singaporeans and a Malaysian - as well as one Malaysian woman, all between 21 and 54 years old, were arrested on Thursday, Singapore Customs said yesterday.

Customs officers had observed boxes being transferred into a Singapore-registered box truck at the loading and unloading bay of the industrial building and suspected they contained duty-unpaid cigarettes.

They found 1,120 cartons of such cigarettes in the truck and arrested the Malaysian woman and three Singaporean men.

Further checks uncovered 4,928 cartons in another Singapore-registered truck in the vicinity, making it a haul of 6,048 cartons.

Subsequently, the driver of a Malaysia-registered lorry, suspected to have delivered the cigarettes, was arrested at Tuas Checkpoint.

The duty evaded amounted to $516,490 and the goods and services tax (GST) evaded was $41,430. All three vehicles were seized.

The agency warned that buying, selling, conveying, delivering or storing duty-unpaid goods is a serious offence under the Customs Act and GST Act.

Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed up to six years, or both. - THE STRAITS TIMES

COURT & CRIME