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Jabba the Hutt
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Two men charged with transporting and buying contraband cigarettes
Posted: 28 July 2011 1849 hrs
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SINGAPORE: A Malaysian and a Singaporean were charged in court on Thursday with transporting and buying contraband cigarettes from Malaysia to Singapore.
Murugan Ramasamy, a Malaysian bus driver, and S M Jaharbardeen (s/o Mohamed Ameendeen), a 37-year-old Singaporean, were caught red handed on the night of July 26.
The two men, along with Jaharbardeen's Fijian girlfriend, were found with some 600 packets of contraband cigarettes and about 900 sachets of chewing tobacco hidden in a large spare tyre.
The estimated duty and GST payable for the duty-unpaid cigarettes amounted to more than S$6,200 in total.
Officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Customs zoomed in on the trio, after spotting a blue bus and white van parked at a secluded junction near Tampines Industrial Avenue 4.
Jaharbardeen, who admitted to owning the contraband cigarettes, said he had ordered the illicit goods through a syndicate member in Johor Bahru.
Ramasamy said he was approached by a Malaysian Indian in Pontian, to help in the transaction.
The 39-year-old bus driver, who regularly transports factory workers between Malaysia and Singapore, also admitted he was paid 200 ringgit to carry out the job.
If found guilty, both men could face up to three years in jail and be fined up to twenty times the amount of duty evaded if they are found to be first time offenders.
-CNA/ac
