More than 17,600 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized in May
POSTED: 03 Jun 2013 12:22 PM
Contraband cigarettes seized by Singapore Customs on 19 May 2013 (Photo/Singapore Customs)
SINGAPORE: More than 17,600 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized in four operations in May by Singapore Customs.
The total street value of the cigarettes amounted to more than S$1.8 million while the total duty and Goods and Services Tax evaded exceeded S$1.5 million.
In the first operation on 19 May, a 20-foot container at Tanjong Pagar Scanning Station was stopped for routine checks and scanned by immigration officers.
The officers detected that the container was holding cartons of duty unpaid cigarettes instead of floor and wall tiles that had been declared as its consignment of goods.
Singapore Customs was immediately notified while its officers accompanied the container to a warehouse at Kallang Avenue.
Four men then attempted to unload the cigarettes from the container the next day, resulting in them being arrested. Some 14,400 cartons of cigarettes were also seized.
Singapore Customs said this is the third largest seizure of contraband cigarettes since 2009.
On 20 and 23 May, 1,521 cartons of duty unpaid cigarettes were recovered from two consignments at Changi Airfreight Centre.
The consignments had been declared as electrical components and "consolidated cargo" comprising several small individual shipments.
On 27 May, another 1,680 cartons of duty unpaid cigarettes were seized at Keppel Distripark in a consignment that had been declared as garments.
Investigations into the cases are ongoing.
Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession 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.
Repeat offenders who are caught with more than two kilogrammes of tobacco products will also face mandatory imprisonment.
- CNA/jc
