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Twelve Thai nationals arrested in tobacco, sex drugs raid at Golden Mile Complex
BOXES STACKED AS HIGH AS CEILING
By Pearly Tan
July 11, 2009
AT THE SCENE: One of the suspects (handcuffed, in blue shorts) being questioned by officers.
THE curtains were always drawn, and the door always shut.
Neighbours had no idea what was going on inside.
On Wednesday, they finally found out.
It turned out that illicit activities were allegedly being carried out in this, and a few other shop units, at the Golden Mile Complex.
For seven hours that day, officers from the Singapore Customs raided five shop units and a container at the building on Beach Road.
The operation, which started at 10.30am, netted 6.3tonnes of cut tobacco leaves, which is suspected to be duty-unpaid.
Custom officers were unable to value the haul as they seldom seize illegal tobacco leaves.
This is the largest haul of suspected duty-unpaid tobacco leaves at Golden Mile Complex, a Customs spokesman told The New Paper. This is not the first time Singapore Customs has conducted operations there before.
One of the suspects arrested being led away by officers. TNP PICTURES: KELVIN CHNG
Officers also seized 17 boxes of illegal sexual enhancement and medical products.
Twelve Thai nationals aged 26 to 52 were detained, the spokesman said. Five will be charged under the Customs Act while the rest will be on holding charges pending further investigations.
The New Paper team arrived at the building at 4.30pm on Wednesday after a tip-off from a reader.
The door to one of the raided units on the third storey was open.
We looked inside and saw a man, who looked Thai.
Clad in a dark-coloured T-shirt and flower-patterned shorts, he was handcuffed and seated on a cardboard box.
TAKEN INTO CUSTODY: Customs officers preparing to remove the confiscated items.
A Thai woman sat on the floor beside him. She was not handcuffed.
Three Customs officers were also in the room.
There were boxes with labels printed in Thai, and bottles of vitamins and medicines which were stacked to the ceiling, which was about 2m high.
Said Mr Keith Tan, 28, who works in an office on the third storey: 'At about 2pm, I came out of my office and saw a group of about 10 people gathered outside the unit.
'The unit is used as a storeroom for one of the stores downstairs selling toiletries, medicine and candies.'
Boxes removed
He added that he saw the Customs officers removing boxes of medication.
'Their main store on the first storey sells many Thai brands of medicine like antacids and flu pills that are not available in pharmacies.
'The medication is in Thai packaging and they even sell Thai dieting pills.'
At another unit, also on the third storey, we saw five Customs officers loading more than 40 cardboard boxes onto trolleys.
Inside the boxes were packets of what appeared to be tobacco wrappers with the words 'Thai Ang Hoon' printed on them.
They also had the English words 'Smoking causes lung cancer' on it.
Even though the Customs officers were at Golden Mile Complex for seven hours, the raid took place so quietly that most office workers in the other units on the third storey were clueless about what went on.
A woman in her 20s who works at a law firm and who gave her name only as Ms Ng, said: 'The unit always has the curtains drawn and I didn't hear any noise.
'I just saw many packages outside earlier, but I had no idea what happened.'
At the unit next to the one where boxes of tobacco were being stacked, two men were busy with their own work.
One of them, who did not want to be identified, said: 'I have no idea what's going on but it doesn't bother me. The Thai nationals do their own thing and we do ours.'
Business at the building went on as usual - many Thais were seen eating at the food stalls and shopping at the provision stores.
The Customs spokesman said the seized items will be handed over to the Health Sciences Authority for further action.
Under the Customs and GST Act, it is illegal to buy, sell or have in possession duty-unpaid goods such as illegal tobacco and cigarettes. Offenders can be jailed and fined.
Those who are caught with a packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes can be fined at least $500 or be prosecuted in court.
The New Paper reported in April this year that since the beginning of this year, more than 780,000 packets of duty-unpaid contraband cigarettes have been seized.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTRABAND CONFISCATED
20 JUN:
15,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes estimated to be worth $1.4 million seized from a container docked at Keppel Wharf.
GST and duty charges for the cigarettes would have amounted to $1.2 million.
17 APR:
6,200 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized from a container declared to contain photocopiers. Cigarettes had estimated street value of $527,250.
11 APR:
20,970 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes worth more than $200,000 seized at Tuas checkpoint. Bricks were used to conceal the cigarettes on a trailer. Duty and GST for the cigarettes amounted to more than $161,000.
Twelve Thai nationals arrested in tobacco, sex drugs raid at Golden Mile Complex
BOXES STACKED AS HIGH AS CEILING
By Pearly Tan
July 11, 2009
AT THE SCENE: One of the suspects (handcuffed, in blue shorts) being questioned by officers.
THE curtains were always drawn, and the door always shut.
Neighbours had no idea what was going on inside.
On Wednesday, they finally found out.
It turned out that illicit activities were allegedly being carried out in this, and a few other shop units, at the Golden Mile Complex.
For seven hours that day, officers from the Singapore Customs raided five shop units and a container at the building on Beach Road.
The operation, which started at 10.30am, netted 6.3tonnes of cut tobacco leaves, which is suspected to be duty-unpaid.
Custom officers were unable to value the haul as they seldom seize illegal tobacco leaves.
This is the largest haul of suspected duty-unpaid tobacco leaves at Golden Mile Complex, a Customs spokesman told The New Paper. This is not the first time Singapore Customs has conducted operations there before.
One of the suspects arrested being led away by officers. TNP PICTURES: KELVIN CHNG
Officers also seized 17 boxes of illegal sexual enhancement and medical products.
Twelve Thai nationals aged 26 to 52 were detained, the spokesman said. Five will be charged under the Customs Act while the rest will be on holding charges pending further investigations.
The New Paper team arrived at the building at 4.30pm on Wednesday after a tip-off from a reader.
The door to one of the raided units on the third storey was open.
We looked inside and saw a man, who looked Thai.
Clad in a dark-coloured T-shirt and flower-patterned shorts, he was handcuffed and seated on a cardboard box.
TAKEN INTO CUSTODY: Customs officers preparing to remove the confiscated items.
A Thai woman sat on the floor beside him. She was not handcuffed.
Three Customs officers were also in the room.
There were boxes with labels printed in Thai, and bottles of vitamins and medicines which were stacked to the ceiling, which was about 2m high.
Said Mr Keith Tan, 28, who works in an office on the third storey: 'At about 2pm, I came out of my office and saw a group of about 10 people gathered outside the unit.
'The unit is used as a storeroom for one of the stores downstairs selling toiletries, medicine and candies.'
Boxes removed
He added that he saw the Customs officers removing boxes of medication.
'Their main store on the first storey sells many Thai brands of medicine like antacids and flu pills that are not available in pharmacies.
'The medication is in Thai packaging and they even sell Thai dieting pills.'
At another unit, also on the third storey, we saw five Customs officers loading more than 40 cardboard boxes onto trolleys.
Inside the boxes were packets of what appeared to be tobacco wrappers with the words 'Thai Ang Hoon' printed on them.
They also had the English words 'Smoking causes lung cancer' on it.
Even though the Customs officers were at Golden Mile Complex for seven hours, the raid took place so quietly that most office workers in the other units on the third storey were clueless about what went on.
A woman in her 20s who works at a law firm and who gave her name only as Ms Ng, said: 'The unit always has the curtains drawn and I didn't hear any noise.
'I just saw many packages outside earlier, but I had no idea what happened.'
At the unit next to the one where boxes of tobacco were being stacked, two men were busy with their own work.
One of them, who did not want to be identified, said: 'I have no idea what's going on but it doesn't bother me. The Thai nationals do their own thing and we do ours.'
Business at the building went on as usual - many Thais were seen eating at the food stalls and shopping at the provision stores.
The Customs spokesman said the seized items will be handed over to the Health Sciences Authority for further action.
Under the Customs and GST Act, it is illegal to buy, sell or have in possession duty-unpaid goods such as illegal tobacco and cigarettes. Offenders can be jailed and fined.
Those who are caught with a packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes can be fined at least $500 or be prosecuted in court.
The New Paper reported in April this year that since the beginning of this year, more than 780,000 packets of duty-unpaid contraband cigarettes have been seized.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTRABAND CONFISCATED
20 JUN:
15,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes estimated to be worth $1.4 million seized from a container docked at Keppel Wharf.
GST and duty charges for the cigarettes would have amounted to $1.2 million.
17 APR:
6,200 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized from a container declared to contain photocopiers. Cigarettes had estimated street value of $527,250.
11 APR:
20,970 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes worth more than $200,000 seized at Tuas checkpoint. Bricks were used to conceal the cigarettes on a trailer. Duty and GST for the cigarettes amounted to more than $161,000.
