The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) stated on Thursday, June 20 that its officials arrested two Malaysian nationals for their alleged involvement smuggling e-cigarettes and related paraphernalia into Singapore by strapping the items on their body.
ICA wrote on their Facebook page that those men arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday, June 18 in a Malaysia registered vehicle.
After the officials checked both Malaysian men, they found a total of two e-cigarettes and eight bottles of e-cigarette liquids strapped to the legs of the 21-year old male, while e-cigarette parts were found from another male, aged 21, who was seated in the same vehicle.
ICA said the Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has also started investigation and both the men are reportedly cooperating with the officials.
ICA added that it will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles vigorously to prevent such smuggling attempts of illegal items, drugs, weapons and undesirable person.
AS per ICA annual statistics report of 2018, the officials cleared more than 212 million travellers last year besides 10 million consignments, containers and parcels.
ICA's Commissioner-Designate, Marvin Sim stated that despite "stringent checks and high penalties," known to everybody, "attempts to smuggle contraband items into Singapore have persisted."
In the report, Sim mentioned that, among all the illegal items, some contraband products "can pose a serious security threat to Singapore. This is why ICA officers cannot let up on security checks, even when the checkpoints are congested."
In addition, Sim said, since the global security threat remains high, the authority "must spare no effort to secure our borders, even as we facilitate the entry and exit of increasing volumes of travellers and cargo."
