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Men sell cigarettes stashed in bin to school kids
The most guarded rubbish bin in S'pore?
By Special Correspondent
March 06, 2009
STEP 1 A secondary school student approaches a cigarette peddler at Block 138 Marsiling Road on Tuesday.
NOT many people pay so much attention to a rubbish bin like these two men do.
Seldom leaving its side, they usually stay just a few feet away from what could be the most guarded bin in Singapore.
They have good reason to do so. They are cigarette peddlers hiding their stash in the bin in Marsiling Road and selling the cigarettes to uniformed school children.
The New Paper learnt of their activities after a caller, who only wanted to be known as Deny, said he had noticed several of the peddlers in the estate since last year.
These two men were seen operating from the void deck of Block 138 Marsiling Road, which was behind a secondary school and a popular food court.
Deny, who lives in the area, said what riled him was that he had allegedly caught four Primary 6 students buying cigarettes from the peddlers last year.
Said the father of four: 'I was upset these people were selling to school kids. I thought of my own kids.
STEP 2 Two cigarette peddlers then get cigarettes from a green rubbish bin at the same block to sell to the customer.
'I watched the students and followed them and caught them smoking at a void deck. I asked them how much they paid for the cigarettes. They said it was $6 a packet.'
A packet normally costs around $11.
Those convicted of selling contraband cigarettes can be fined up to 20 times the GST and duty evaded and/or jailed up to three years.
Deny called The New Paper on Monday to tip us off.
On Tuesday, The New Paper observed the two men and noticed that each time a buyer came by and paid up, one of them would uncover the bin and lift a black trash bag from it.
In it were the cigarettes.
STEP 3 Customers, like these two Secondary school students, leave quickly after completing the transaction.
Some customers arrived on motorcycles while most came on foot. Half of them were students while the rest were adult males.
And when the peddlers' supply run out, they would replenish the bin with more cigarettes from another bag.
Squatting next to the bin, they would empty cartons of cigarettes into it.
Quick transaction
Customers would walk to the man in a white polo shirt to hand him the money, then to the man in the dark coloured shirt who would fish out the cigarettes from the bin.
The transaction would last no more than a minute. One student looked nervously over his shoulder several times before handing over his money.
STEP 4 The two cigarette peddlers then restock the green rubbish bin in preparation for more sales.
In about one hour, we observed more than 10 customers, about half of them uniformed students from the same school.
Another man in a red shirt appeared to act as a lookout as the other two dealt with their customers.
The principal of the secondary school did not return calls to The New Paper about whether he knew that his students were buying cigarettes from these peddlers.
A resident, who declined to be named, said she had occasionally noticed the men there.
A teacher, who used to teach in a neighbourhood school in the north, said she had heard of students in her previous school buying from peddlers who would loiter near the school.
Last year, the overall number of buyers, sellers and smugglers of contraband cigarettes caught fell for the first time since 2005.
The 20,306 offenders caught last year was 13 per cent lower than the 23,422 caught in 2007.
Of those caught last year, about 19,000 paid fines while the others were charged in court with some jailed or fined up to $10,000.
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Peddlers & buyers arrested
TWO illegal peddlers and four buyers were arrested at Block 138 Marsiling Road by Singapore Customs on Tuesday and yesterday.
A Singapore Customs spokesman said the peddlers will be charged in court while the buyers were fined.
He told The New Paper they were aware of illegal cigarettes being peddled in the Marsiling area and had intensified enforcement operations there.
Since January this year, 106 people were caught - 88 buyers and 18 peddlers - in the area.
Peddlers are arrested and charged in court while buyers are fined $500 per packet of illegal cigarettes. Underaged consumers caught with illegal cigarettes can also be fined $500 a packet.
Singapore Customs officers would also counsel the underaged offenders and meet their parents or guardians.
Schools would also be informed of any illegal cigarette activities involving their students.
Underaged smokers will be referred to the Health Sciences Authority for further counselling.
The spokesman said besides hiding cigarettes in rubbish bins, peddlers also store them in vacant coffee shops, letter boxes, sewage drains, stools and even rubbish collection points.
Singapore Customs said it has stepped up island-wide patrols and checks to arrest buyers and sellers. Uniformed auxiliary police officers had also been hired to nab offenders.
The spokesman added that since 1Jan, every stick of cigarette is marked with the letters SDPC, which stands for 'Singapore Duty Paid Cigarettes', to improve detection of illegal cigarettes.
Last year, Singapore Customs received 68 tip-offs regarding illegal cigarette peddling in the Marsiling area.
To fight the problem, it has distributed more than 15,000 notices island-wide at HDB estates and community clubs since the end of last year as part of their public education efforts.
The spokesman said anyone with information on smuggling activities may contact the Singapore Customs Intelligence hotline at 1-800233 0000 or e-mail [email protected]
Men sell cigarettes stashed in bin to school kids
The most guarded rubbish bin in S'pore?
By Special Correspondent
March 06, 2009
STEP 1 A secondary school student approaches a cigarette peddler at Block 138 Marsiling Road on Tuesday.
NOT many people pay so much attention to a rubbish bin like these two men do.
Seldom leaving its side, they usually stay just a few feet away from what could be the most guarded bin in Singapore.
They have good reason to do so. They are cigarette peddlers hiding their stash in the bin in Marsiling Road and selling the cigarettes to uniformed school children.
The New Paper learnt of their activities after a caller, who only wanted to be known as Deny, said he had noticed several of the peddlers in the estate since last year.
These two men were seen operating from the void deck of Block 138 Marsiling Road, which was behind a secondary school and a popular food court.
Deny, who lives in the area, said what riled him was that he had allegedly caught four Primary 6 students buying cigarettes from the peddlers last year.
Said the father of four: 'I was upset these people were selling to school kids. I thought of my own kids.
STEP 2 Two cigarette peddlers then get cigarettes from a green rubbish bin at the same block to sell to the customer.
'I watched the students and followed them and caught them smoking at a void deck. I asked them how much they paid for the cigarettes. They said it was $6 a packet.'
A packet normally costs around $11.
Those convicted of selling contraband cigarettes can be fined up to 20 times the GST and duty evaded and/or jailed up to three years.
Deny called The New Paper on Monday to tip us off.
On Tuesday, The New Paper observed the two men and noticed that each time a buyer came by and paid up, one of them would uncover the bin and lift a black trash bag from it.
In it were the cigarettes.
STEP 3 Customers, like these two Secondary school students, leave quickly after completing the transaction.
Some customers arrived on motorcycles while most came on foot. Half of them were students while the rest were adult males.
And when the peddlers' supply run out, they would replenish the bin with more cigarettes from another bag.
Squatting next to the bin, they would empty cartons of cigarettes into it.
Quick transaction
Customers would walk to the man in a white polo shirt to hand him the money, then to the man in the dark coloured shirt who would fish out the cigarettes from the bin.
The transaction would last no more than a minute. One student looked nervously over his shoulder several times before handing over his money.
STEP 4 The two cigarette peddlers then restock the green rubbish bin in preparation for more sales.
In about one hour, we observed more than 10 customers, about half of them uniformed students from the same school.
Another man in a red shirt appeared to act as a lookout as the other two dealt with their customers.
The principal of the secondary school did not return calls to The New Paper about whether he knew that his students were buying cigarettes from these peddlers.
A resident, who declined to be named, said she had occasionally noticed the men there.
A teacher, who used to teach in a neighbourhood school in the north, said she had heard of students in her previous school buying from peddlers who would loiter near the school.
Last year, the overall number of buyers, sellers and smugglers of contraband cigarettes caught fell for the first time since 2005.
The 20,306 offenders caught last year was 13 per cent lower than the 23,422 caught in 2007.
Of those caught last year, about 19,000 paid fines while the others were charged in court with some jailed or fined up to $10,000.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peddlers & buyers arrested
TWO illegal peddlers and four buyers were arrested at Block 138 Marsiling Road by Singapore Customs on Tuesday and yesterday.
A Singapore Customs spokesman said the peddlers will be charged in court while the buyers were fined.
He told The New Paper they were aware of illegal cigarettes being peddled in the Marsiling area and had intensified enforcement operations there.
Since January this year, 106 people were caught - 88 buyers and 18 peddlers - in the area.
Peddlers are arrested and charged in court while buyers are fined $500 per packet of illegal cigarettes. Underaged consumers caught with illegal cigarettes can also be fined $500 a packet.
Singapore Customs officers would also counsel the underaged offenders and meet their parents or guardians.
Schools would also be informed of any illegal cigarette activities involving their students.
Underaged smokers will be referred to the Health Sciences Authority for further counselling.
The spokesman said besides hiding cigarettes in rubbish bins, peddlers also store them in vacant coffee shops, letter boxes, sewage drains, stools and even rubbish collection points.
Singapore Customs said it has stepped up island-wide patrols and checks to arrest buyers and sellers. Uniformed auxiliary police officers had also been hired to nab offenders.
The spokesman added that since 1Jan, every stick of cigarette is marked with the letters SDPC, which stands for 'Singapore Duty Paid Cigarettes', to improve detection of illegal cigarettes.
Last year, Singapore Customs received 68 tip-offs regarding illegal cigarette peddling in the Marsiling area.
To fight the problem, it has distributed more than 15,000 notices island-wide at HDB estates and community clubs since the end of last year as part of their public education efforts.
The spokesman said anyone with information on smuggling activities may contact the Singapore Customs Intelligence hotline at 1-800233 0000 or e-mail [email protected]
